From govt hospitals to floods, the city still lacks basic infrastructure
Representational Photo (DC archives)
Chennai: Chennai on Friday celebrated the 375th birthday of Madras. While some experts argue that the city is much more ancient, there is still a very strong reason to pause a bit at this happy moment and look back, take stock of the development and the progress of the lovely seaside city and her wonderful people.
Yes, we now have nice shopping malls that bring us the best global brands, exciting multiplexes that ensure that the popcorn is still spicy and warm while we watch the latest 3-D Hollywood hit, wider roads and flyovers to ease traveling despite the vehicle population growing manifold, giant corporate healthcare providers who help national economy earning lots of dollars in healing sheiks and sahebs, super-cooled eateries serving delicacies that are just out-of-this-world, the list of urbane luxuries that we Chennaites can boast of is really endless.
And all this even as the city preserves its culture, traditions and fine arts over many generations, making us feel so proud witnessing how each Margazhi Vizha draws more connoisseurs from all over the world at the sabhas and more young performers on the performing stage.
But then, have the city and its administrators performed enough through all these years? Have the growth and development been commensurate with the needs and aspirations of the citizen? Are we sure that the stuff we buy is of promised quality and if not, we could get compensation in quick time? Are we sure that our kin setting out to study or work will manage the roads well and return home safe?
Do the government hospitals have enough doctors, paramedics and drugs; and are all their X-ray machines, scans and operation theatres working? Why are even senior-respectable artistes openly cribbing about some sabha secretaries expecting special favours for granting stage space? Why has education become so expensive and why are so many graduates either unemployed or underemployed? And why is the crime graph looking skyward always?
I remember playing galli-cricket on the pavement outside my house next to Ponnusamy Hotel in Royapettah as a student in the late ’60s but lo, now there are no pavements even to walk and dodge the recklessly speeding bikes, autos and buses. The roads Madras had rarely flooded even during the wettest of monsoons because the iron grills just under the pavement would allow the water to drain into the free-flowing stormwater drains.
Chennai gets flooded, knee-deep in several places, even if it rains just for a couple of hours because the promised drainage system has not been delivered. The promise of ‘Singara Chennai’ remains on paper that has turned brown. The sad part is that nobody seems to bother, men, old men, girls, women, many with babies in arms, uncomplainingly trudge through flooded roads; wait in long queues in dirty hospital corridors; travel like cattle in packed buses; and carry on with life as the gift of karma. Maybe, some of them will gape in awe at the glittering wayside banners announcing the joyful 400th birthday of the great metropolis, wading through knee-deep rainwater.
( Source : dc )
Next Story
