Yes to all, but nothing changes

Harish Dhillon

ABOUT three years ago I wrote a middle about the poor services of electricity, water and roads.  Mr PK Dhumal, then Chief Minister, was gracious enough to call up the next morning and express regrets. He said people would be coming to help out in all three areas. Sure enough by that afternoon, three teams descended on the house. The SDO for water promised all kind of things, including a second connection for the other building and a new connection for the source of water for my house. 

The PWD gentleman wanted to tarmac my private road. They had orders to start work by the evening. I explained that it was not my private road but the road from Dharampur to my house that I had written about. The electricity people, as usual, blamed it on the old transformer in Garkhal. They said they had bought land in Dharampur and would soon be setting up a new transformer.

I wrote another middle thanking Mr Dhumal for his graciousness, but at the same time expressing doubts about red tape and how I feared it would not let things be done. As expected, the initial rush of officials gradually dried up and except for one patch that was repaired on the road, nothing has been done. 

Occasionally, all kinds of VIPs come to visit me to see how I am doing. They ask if there is any help that I need. “Please help me with water, it pinches when I have to pay Rs 1,500 for 1,200 litres, and during summer, this becomes very frequent. Though I must admit that my condition is ameliorated by the fact that I have set up a fairly large system of harvesting rain water.”

Once again there is a flurry of junior officials saying that they will do all kinds of wonderful things for me. They say to give them a few days and not to get back to the VIPs. Again after two or three visits, everything dies down. 

The condition of the roads goes from bad to worse and there is so much fluctuation in voltage and many people who do not have voltage stabilisers have had their fridges and TVs burnt out. Once again I wish the newspaper correspondents would come to the area and highlight our plight.

This is the story of India’s development. I can’t help feeling cynical at all of Mr Modi’s talk of development. As part of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, my neighbours got a toilet built, but my maid Meena saw the old lady still squatting near my gate. Meena confronted her and she replied: “What can I do? Last time I got water supply was 15 days ago. Like your sahib, I can’t afford to buy water.”

I think of all Mr Modi’s grand plans and wonder if this is going to be the story of most of them.