Rules, Laws and Jokes
“Why don’t people stop, the
signal is red?”
Cars were still zooming past,
while she looked around her stationary car, as if the traffic signal did not
exist. We were not in small village somewhere in the remote parts of India, but
in Pune, in the center of Pune at the Rakshak Chowk (those familiar with Pune
would remember it as a big signal).
Yet there was scant regard for the law.
“Well it is a Sunday morning, and
anyway roads are empty.” I tried my best to rationalize the situation.
“Then we might as well take down
the traffic signals. Why have the façade of being civilized?”
The better half retorted.
“It takes time for people to get
used to new rules.”
“Yes this signal has been around
for five years now, how much more?”
She snapped back.
The disregard for the rule of law
is not limited to the roads but is seen in almost all aspects of life. We have
this genetic virus in our personal systems that make us allergic to follow
rules. When we see a cop at the signal, we also see the red light, but when
there is no cop, it is always green. We find ways.
On December 16th 2015,
the Supreme Court had decided no more diesel cabs in Delhi wef 1 March 2016. So
as I watched the indefatigable media coverage of the Delhi traffic nightmares,
the first question to which I am still trying to find an answer being, why do
we need the judiciary to do the executives’ job? Why does the Supreme Court
have to step in and decide which cars should run and which should be banned in
a particular city?
Traffic problems in our country,
particularly in metros like Delhi is the worst kept secret. Bumper to bumper
clutch driving is the norm, with car speeds in single digits but triple digit
speed of expletives. The changing roads, the rising number of flyovers, the
introduction of new transport modes like metro, etc nothing seems to be
working.
The number of private vehicles
just keeps rising. It was estimated sometime back that some 500 new private
cars are unleashed on the Delhi roads every day, thanks to the low downpayment
requirements and a plethora of bankers ready to fund the aspirations of an
upwardly mobile population. A 2014 WHO survey of more than 1,600 cities ranked
Delhi as the most polluted, partly because of the nearly 10 million vehicles on
its roads. The Supreme Court has been pressuring authorities to reduce
dangerous levels of haze and dust that choke the city, with a string of orders
last year including a ban on new, large diesel cars, mainly SUVs.
The traffic, in collaboration
with other offenders like industries, does contribute significantly to
pollution in any city. Let us say driving
on the way from home to office, when you are stuck on the flyover (these
flyovers become crawlers at peak hours) and the car ahead has not moved for
five minutes, open the BMW door, and step out to take in the sultry humid
polluted air of Mumbai, and you would understand the spelling and meaning of
pollution. It applies equally well to
Delhi or any other city.
No one has an answer to why the
difference between the inside of the car and the outside should be SO stark?
And this includes the Delhi administration too. Arvind Kejriwal is one of the
most evolved politicians and yet he too seems to have done very little on
fixing the pollution problem. The Odd Even scheme, a good to have plan, is a
recent brainwave and is doing its bit, but is not enough to fight the battle
against pollution. The Air Quality Index reveals a grim picture every day.
So whenever the executive arm
fails, the judiciary steps in. Every time the judiciary steps in, it dilutes
democracy. So the SC had in its wisdom decided that diesel cars would be
banned. It gave the diesel car owners three clear months to make arrangements
so that they can comply with the new rules.
There are thirty thousand odd
diesel taxis. Most of these are owned by individuals who own and operate these
taxis. These people were supposed to change the system onto CNG to ensure that
they could continue to ply their trade. And given that this was their
livelihood, they should have been very meticulous in getting the conversion
done on time. Or in the alternate, may be exchange their diesel car for a
compliant car. But no! The rule was treated with due respect and nothing was
done. For they knew divine powers would intervene.
The deadline was extended to 31st
March, giving them one more month for complying with the rules. There was
probably one thing that the judiciary overlooked was to question the Delhi
Government on knowing what percentage of people had complied with the new
requirement. That would have shed some light on the intent of the erring cab
owners to comply. For the intent was missing, in most cases barring the
corporate owned diesel cabs. And if the intent itself is missing, giving more
time makes no sense.
On the due date, again the divine
powers intervened. The Delhi government once again stood up like a disobedient
child summoned by the headmaster, owned up its inadequate preparation to
enforce the rule, sought another extension to give more time to the taxi owners
to arrange for the conversion to CNG and the Principal with some stern
warnings, obliged, extending the deadline to 30th April.
Come 1st May, all last
minute attempts to again placate the SC failed. The rule was finally enforced
with Delhi Police taking stern action against the diesel cabs still plying on
Delhi roads in contravention to the SC order. Some 100 cabs were impounded by
the DP. Allegations and counter allegations of harassment and corruption flew
wildly. Everyone would agree that the more the number of rules, more the
possibility of street level corruption. And here we are talking of cab owners,
who are used to dealing with cops, unlike regular citizens who would generally
pay up the fine demanded by the cop and demand a receipt for the same.
The cab owners struck. They did
what we Indians know to best. When we are caught on the wrong foot, we shall
protest. Neither shall we work, nor shall we let others work. On Monday, i.e. 2nd
May, the first working day after the ban came in force there was mayhem.
Affected cabbies blocked several arterial roads and important junctions. NH 8,
that links Gurugram (used to be Gurgaon) to Delhi was blocked, completely. People conducted their meetings and conference
calls from their cars.
The situation was further
worsened by two factors. The temperature in late morning crossed 40 degrees,
and soon enough touched 46 degrees. Delhi is anyway known for road rage. The
setting was perfect. It got worse by the second factor.
The compliant cabs like Uber,
Ola, went back to making most of the situation. So Delhites either got a “no
availability” message from these service providers or they got surge pricing
before they could get inside the cab which would take them to work and which
eventually got stuck in the man-made traffic jam. Delhites reacted in the way
they know best. Road rage.
The reaction of the politicians
was even more interesting. The Union Minister for Surface Transport announced
that the Central Government would request the SC to reconsider its decision.
“The ban has created an unprecedented situation of thousands of taxis getting
off the road and people facing severe hardships.” And for a change the AAP
Government, which normally is never found to be sharing the BJP viewpoints,
appeared to have similar views.
Ever wondered why the general
population does not take rules seriously?
As per the Delhi Govt counsel,
the ban had created a law and order situation, besides a human problem, and
requested the SC to give more time for the taxis to switch from diesel to CNG. The
SC agreed to grant Delhi Govt two days to come with a comprehensive plan for
pollution control.
Somehow the politicians who are
worried about the loss of tangible votes, don’t seem to be concerned about the
tangible effects of pollution on Delhi population and the intangible effects of
not respecting the law.
The unprecedented situation had
risen precisely because those erring diesel cabs were not off the road but on
the road blocking the roads. The best course of action is to ensure these cabs
are kept off the road and not allow a handful of non-compliant taxi drivers to
hold the entire population to ransom.
It is not a question of a few
thousand tax drivers. At stake is whether our cities be allowed to breathe?
Does the Delhi Government really have any plan to control, forget bringing
down, pollution? If it has not done anything in the last one year, what kind of
a half baked plan will it produce in two days?
At the next level the question is
of our governance system and the kind of people who govern us. Recently Delhi
Government was in the middle of a storm when it approved a significant hike to
Delhi MLAs in Dec 2015. We wonder what was that hike for? What had they achieved to earn such a steep
increment?
Was it for its failure to pass
laws to control traffic led pollution? Or was it for its failure to enforce SC
decisions?
Probably it was for not acting
against those miscreants who brought Delhi to a standstill, and then pleading
for them on “human hardship” grounds. It
looks like a big joke on all of us. SC is doing what Delhi Government was
supposed to do in the first place and Delhi Government instead of being happy
that the unpopular decision has been taken by SC goes out of its way to tell SC
why it cannot be done. What should the principal do with a student who is
consistent in not complying with the rules? Should it be lenient and spoil the
student further?
Yet, for all its failure,
governance in Delhi is still better than other cities, where the discussion on
diesel vehicles is yet to start.
