Golden mess

The ambitious Golden Quadrilateral Project has touched hearts of most regions and their people, but the people of Bihar.

First it was the infamous murder of Engineer Satyendra Dubey. Unfortunately, Dubey was murdered after he wrote a letter to the Prime Minister alleging the grip of mafia in the segment he was constructing the road. Unfortunately, because this gave a wrong turn to the debate that should have taken place then. He was murdered by criminals who robbed him before that. But then Opposition politicians created a ruckus over an unsubstantiated claim that he had been murdered by the mafia and over whether the Prime Minister’s Office leaked his letter of complaint.

And the debate on law and order never took place. A debate vis-à-vis how engineers (and doctors) find it impossible to work in Bihar, where most development projects fail to start or rarely complete. Engineers engaged in building infrastructure are regularly kidnapped and their employers and family are forced to pay huge ransom in return. These kidnapping syndicates mostly run under the patronage of politicians, many of whom are members of Parliament.

The result: in a world where world’s biggest companies contest to win a tender worth thousands of crores in any part of the country, there were no bidders for the National Highway projects in Bihar. Tenders were invited for a second time. And again, no one showed any interest. Now the government is planning to give the job to Bihar State Bridge Corporation, known for its snail’s pace and corruption. And its engineers too would be kidnapped, ransoms would be paid. And nothing will work again.

Everybody is treating symptoms. No one wants to get to the disease. It’s election time soon, so politicians aren’t saying a thing. They can’t for they depend on the crime syndicate bosses.

I am worried because I gotta go pay a visit to my native village. And roads I hear are in a bad shape. So will be my back once I am back. Or maybe I will skip that. This time.