Letter ( No.7) to the Public Editor
15 Jan 2008
Letter to the Editor
Sir,
Politics, Corruption and Welfare
Thank you for your timely and relevant Leader in today’s Statesman (15 Jan).
The blazing fire in Burrabazar points to the fact that for politicians, a choice between power and welfare of the people is very simple; they would invariably choose power – by hook or crook – in preference to the welfare of the people. And power in India means corruption.
The construction of the 13-storeyed building with a sanction of only four storeys is a stark example of corruption overcoming rules. And the illegal nine storeys could not be built overnight – as you have said. Now if you ask the Kolkata Municipal Corporation what they were doing while the nine illegal floors were being built, they would play politics, passing the buck, while the fact is that they were looking the other way while money changed hands, irrespective of which party occupied the seat of power.
The same thing happens during the annual deluge that Kolkata experiences during the monsoons, or during dengue and other epidemics. So, it is a vicious circle of politics, corruption and criminality. Look how the promoters fill the water-bodies with impunity – cocking a snook at the law and the law-enforcing agencies just because they have the backing of a Minister who is apparently in charge of the portfolio of illegal activities – so to speak. The only recourse left to the people is to approach the court of law, as was done in Delhi in the wake illegal use of residential areas for commercial purposes, in order to right the wrong. Then again, on the one hand, the court is accused of ‘judicial activism’, and on the other, the government quickly amends the rules so as to legalise the illegal activities. In this vicious circle of politics, corruption and criminality, what suffers is the welfare of the people about which the government couldn’t care less.
It will be cruel to say that the fire was a poetic justice to the illegality of the construction – cruel because so many traders have been rendered penniless. The ‘party’ is surely not going to blame it on “activism of Mother Nature”.
Letter to the Editor
Sir,
Politics, Corruption and Welfare
Thank you for your timely and relevant Leader in today’s Statesman (15 Jan).
The blazing fire in Burrabazar points to the fact that for politicians, a choice between power and welfare of the people is very simple; they would invariably choose power – by hook or crook – in preference to the welfare of the people. And power in India means corruption.
The construction of the 13-storeyed building with a sanction of only four storeys is a stark example of corruption overcoming rules. And the illegal nine storeys could not be built overnight – as you have said. Now if you ask the Kolkata Municipal Corporation what they were doing while the nine illegal floors were being built, they would play politics, passing the buck, while the fact is that they were looking the other way while money changed hands, irrespective of which party occupied the seat of power.
The same thing happens during the annual deluge that Kolkata experiences during the monsoons, or during dengue and other epidemics. So, it is a vicious circle of politics, corruption and criminality. Look how the promoters fill the water-bodies with impunity – cocking a snook at the law and the law-enforcing agencies just because they have the backing of a Minister who is apparently in charge of the portfolio of illegal activities – so to speak. The only recourse left to the people is to approach the court of law, as was done in Delhi in the wake illegal use of residential areas for commercial purposes, in order to right the wrong. Then again, on the one hand, the court is accused of ‘judicial activism’, and on the other, the government quickly amends the rules so as to legalise the illegal activities. In this vicious circle of politics, corruption and criminality, what suffers is the welfare of the people about which the government couldn’t care less.
It will be cruel to say that the fire was a poetic justice to the illegality of the construction – cruel because so many traders have been rendered penniless. The ‘party’ is surely not going to blame it on “activism of Mother Nature”.
posted by SENsible at 12:39 pm
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