11-13-2006, 11:51 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>None for the road </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Highway robbers of another kind
The apathy with which the UPA Government has treated the National Highway Development Programme exposes the lip service that it has paid, and continues to pay, to progress, while claiming to be progressive. As reported in this paper on Monday, <b>a most ludicrous clash of factors and interests has occurred, which has put on hold a vital area of national regeneration in several regions of the country</b>. After all,<b> one of the primary hindrances before investment - both domestic and foreign - in the deep hinterland is the near-absence of infrastructure, of which road and electricity is the plinth, the touchstone. On both these counts, the UPA Government's performance has been abysmal. What is worse, it seems to have tied itself in knots - got entangled in miles and miles of red-tape - which will require imaginative solutions along with the requisite political will for it to extricate</b>. The problem seems to have its roots in the Planning Commission itself; one of its top functionaries, who has authored the Model Concession Agreement, has failed to obtain the assent of other relevant bodies in successfully seeking private-public participation to complete the projects. With two power-packed bodies like the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as well as National Highway Development Authority at loggerheads with the Planning Commission official, work on more than 3,000 km of highways - which constitutes the second phase of NHDP - has been stalled since January 2005. The problem isn't so much that a conflict of interests, aims and objectives has arisen; in any development project, there are bound to be contrarians and supporters of a programme. To an extent, this is also welcome because it means there is a healthy discussion on the proposed ventures. However, <b>what is inexplicable - much less pardonable - is holding hostage a project as vital as the NHDP on grounds of failure to satisfy individual egos. It speaks ill of the Government's ability to function in the most rudimentary sense if it fails to get certain simple messages across: Perform or perish, for one.</b>
To an extent, of course, problem also lies with the States. Indeed, going by empirical evidence, <b>there are State Governments that have made complete use of the opportunity and pressed on with the NHDP to be today seen as 'Model States'. Gujarat, in particular, has transformed its countryside with both roads and electricity and is thereby taking prosperity to countless of its people</b>. On the other hand there are States like Uttar Pradesh that continue to languish as far as the basic communication links are concerned. <b>Then there is also Bihar, which till a year ago was politically hostile to the very idea of development, but which has today pulled out all the stops to finish the highway projects.</b> At the end of the day, a leadership with the force of a broad social and political vision is all that matters; and in the present instance, <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>the UPA Government has given a poor account of its ability to deliver on some very fundamental requirements of the common man.</span> <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Highway robbers of another kind
The apathy with which the UPA Government has treated the National Highway Development Programme exposes the lip service that it has paid, and continues to pay, to progress, while claiming to be progressive. As reported in this paper on Monday, <b>a most ludicrous clash of factors and interests has occurred, which has put on hold a vital area of national regeneration in several regions of the country</b>. After all,<b> one of the primary hindrances before investment - both domestic and foreign - in the deep hinterland is the near-absence of infrastructure, of which road and electricity is the plinth, the touchstone. On both these counts, the UPA Government's performance has been abysmal. What is worse, it seems to have tied itself in knots - got entangled in miles and miles of red-tape - which will require imaginative solutions along with the requisite political will for it to extricate</b>. The problem seems to have its roots in the Planning Commission itself; one of its top functionaries, who has authored the Model Concession Agreement, has failed to obtain the assent of other relevant bodies in successfully seeking private-public participation to complete the projects. With two power-packed bodies like the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as well as National Highway Development Authority at loggerheads with the Planning Commission official, work on more than 3,000 km of highways - which constitutes the second phase of NHDP - has been stalled since January 2005. The problem isn't so much that a conflict of interests, aims and objectives has arisen; in any development project, there are bound to be contrarians and supporters of a programme. To an extent, this is also welcome because it means there is a healthy discussion on the proposed ventures. However, <b>what is inexplicable - much less pardonable - is holding hostage a project as vital as the NHDP on grounds of failure to satisfy individual egos. It speaks ill of the Government's ability to function in the most rudimentary sense if it fails to get certain simple messages across: Perform or perish, for one.</b>
To an extent, of course, problem also lies with the States. Indeed, going by empirical evidence, <b>there are State Governments that have made complete use of the opportunity and pressed on with the NHDP to be today seen as 'Model States'. Gujarat, in particular, has transformed its countryside with both roads and electricity and is thereby taking prosperity to countless of its people</b>. On the other hand there are States like Uttar Pradesh that continue to languish as far as the basic communication links are concerned. <b>Then there is also Bihar, which till a year ago was politically hostile to the very idea of development, but which has today pulled out all the stops to finish the highway projects.</b> At the end of the day, a leadership with the force of a broad social and political vision is all that matters; and in the present instance, <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>the UPA Government has given a poor account of its ability to deliver on some very fundamental requirements of the common man.</span> <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->