WHY MP ROADS ARE A NIGHTMARE

Madhya Pradesh

Broken Highways remind citizens of Digvijay Raj

NK SINGH

Dusk falls rapidly in Bundelkhand during winter. That November evening it came earlier than usual. Digvijay Singh had to abandon his helicopter and hit the campaign trail by road. He was, as Chief Minister of MP, campaigning for the ruling Congress party in 2003 assembly election.

It was a gruelling, back-breaking 100 km journey to Orcha, attending several public meetings en route. The roads were terrible, full of huge potholes, throwing clouds of dust.

The Raja of Raghogarh believed that development work did not help much at hustings. Fascinated by magic of social engineering, he had allowed once-wonderful infrastructure of MP to crumble during his decade long tenure. 

As evening advanced, powerful beams of Safari he was travelling in detected stacks of gravel and stone metal lying by roadside. Singh waived his hand expansively towards construction material and declared: “See, we have already started working on roads. Once the elections are over, we shall start the repairs.”

The roads were indeed repaired soon.

But Singh was no longer the Chief Minister. As his bête noir, Uma Bharti predicted, voters consigned him to those huge craters that had appeared in place of roads in many parts of Madhya Pradesh.

Bhopal-Sagar road had virtually disappeared; only rocks and boulders could be seen. Motorists preferred to drive through adjoining fields. Trucks passing through the State started taking a 100 km detour through Rajasthan rather than drive through non-existent roads in MP. Congress is yet to come out of those craters created by Diggi Raja, even after 13 years.

BJP govt neglects roads

Given this background, what is happening in Madhya Pradesh is very surprising. For a party that came to power riding on the promise of sadak, bijli and pani, BJP’s utter neglect of road infrastructure is appalling. Indeed most roads are in such pathetic condition that it has started reminding people of Digvijay Raj.


The point was driven home in February 2017 by film star Rishi Kapoor. After a punishing, nerve-wrecking gruelling 77 km drive from Bhopal to Hoshangabad, the veteran actor appealed to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to improve the “terrible” road conditions in MP.

Earlier, two other celebrities, BJP MP Hema Malini and Bollywood star Raveena Tandon had publicly complained about MP’s bumpy roads.

In January 2017 Additional Chief Secretary Radheshyam Julania, who belongs to MP, said at an official meeting that he could not visit his mother as often as he wished to because the 130 km trip from Bhopal to Rajgarh took four hours due to poor road condition.(It actually took me six hours.)

Bhopal, the capital, is one of the worst sufferers.Except Indore, all roads leading out of Bhopal are horrible. The normal route to Sagar, via Raisen, is so bad that it was abandoned long back.

Regulars have stopped driving to Gwalior via Beora; they travel through a little known road via Berasia. Only the very brave venture on the national highway to Jabalpur. Rishi Kapoor has already made the road to Nagpur notorious.

“Many of the national highways in the state are in such condition that driving and motoring on them, particularly after the monsoon season, becomes impossible,” commented MP High Court last year.

Levying a toll is no longer a guarantee of roads being motorable. The road from Bhopal to Khandwa is full of potholes and motorists prefer to drive via Indore.The government wakes up only when sufferers file PILs in courts.

Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said in February 2017 that he was “ashamed” of the delays in road infrastructure in MP.

CM avoids road travel

Earlier, MP Government had the luxury of blaming Congress Government in New Delhi for poor infrastructure. Chief Minister would keep grumbling about lack of funds and step-motherly treatment by Congress. With Narendra Modi coming to power, that fig  leaf has been removed.

The Chief Minister rarely travels by road. He normally flies, and that too by special aircrafts. No cattle class for him. MP Government owns a plane and three helicopters and last week it floated global tender for hiring a second jet. MP CM travelling by road or rail,an unusual event,makes newspapers headlines.

The state plane is used not only for official work. CMs are known to charter helicopters and planes to attend wedding receptions, birthday parties, family holidays, housewarming celebrations, home visits and party meetings. When PC Sethi was the Chief Minister, state plane was once sent from Delhi to Bhopal to fly back his garments!

With more and more roads falling into disrepair and the government paying little heed to complaints from citizens, Shivraj Singh Chouhan seems to follow in the footsteps of Digvijay Singh.

Given the fate of Diggi Raja, who ignored development at his own peril, that is not a palatable thought ---- neither for Chouhan nor for BJP.

Powers that be, my column in DB Post of 12 Feb 2017

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