The Joy Of Walking On A Road Without Cars
By Vidyadhar Date
02 February, 2014
Countercurrents.org
It was a joy to find the road free from cars. One could walk with dignity and freedom. I experienced this on Republic Day on B.J Road on the sea front at Bandra in Mumbai after the school students’ parade.
Thousands and thousands of children and their parents returning from the parade seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the freedom from cars. The whole road of some 2 km was closed to motor cars. There was not a single policeman around and there was no need for the cops. There was perfect peace and human bonding.
There were people from different communities including a large number of Muslim women, some wearing the burkha. There was no littering of any kind which was something considering the huge debris left behind after the Marathon runs and other public functions.
This was organized by people themselves and it was not a State function. The residents of the area voluntarily agreed not to take out their cars. They were so unlike the Marine Drive residents who claim special privileges. Mumbai’s traffic police joint commissioner Vivek Phansalkar in a special appearance on television had said sorry to the residents of south Mumbai for the inconvenience caused by the State Republic day parade at Marine Drive and not at Shivaji Park. Marine Drive residents should have the least reason to complain for any curbs on their cars as they can easily commute by train with the Churchgate station right behind them and a good bus service nearby.
True democracy prevailed at the Bandra parade and after. There was no display of the might of the military. The Air Force and the Navy had their presence but in a very unobtrusive way, to give information to youngsters about some aspects of their functioning. In the past cars have kept off roads during Mumbai bandh. But there was not much life on roads, though cars were not there. January 26 in Bandra was unusual for the vibrant street life in the absence of cars.
Rahul Gandhi has started talking these days of empowering people. Had he been really serious he would have thought about making at least some streets car- free on some days. It does not cost anything, on the contrary it saves money on fuel, reduces congestion, improves air quality and health. This is being done in several Western countries. Democracy has to become manifest on the streets first, ordinary people have to be treated as equals with respect. But our rules are not interested in such good global practices, such world class facilities for ordinary people. They want world class for themselves while depriving common people of basic dignity. Our ruling class believes in reinforcing hierarchy, class inequalities and in humiliating people. The recent circular providing for more perks for members of Parliament at airports and in flights is a pointer. Shashi Tharoor’s description of ordinary air travelers as cattle class clearly shows how elitist is the thinking in the ruling circles is, how much contempt they have for common people. How much contempt they must be having for users of public transport and for pedestrians. The result is that Delhi now has the dirtiest air in the world among all the cities because of the unchecked motorization taking place in total contempt of the national urban transport policy. The government’s policies on urban transport have been completely lop-sided. How short sighted the government is can be seen from the Bharat Nirman advertisements which boast about flyovers and airports. These are false symbols of progress considering the all-round failure on other fronts.
Far from being empowered, people are being disempowered on roads and humiliated by a traffic system that prioritises motor vehicles over pedestrians. People should be able to cross safely at a traffic junction at least outside Mantralaya and the Counci Hall, the legislative Vidhan Bhavan. Democracy should prevail at least here. It does not. It is becoming more and more unsafe to walk here even when the signal is green.
The motoring class is very vociferous about its freedom . It is true that there is a lot of corruption at different levels in vehicular toll collection. But the point is motorists do not want to pay for the huge facilities they enjoy at the cost of the society. The statewide vandalism of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena under the directive of its leader Raj Thackeray against the toll booths is an expression of the assertion of the motoring class to move without restriction. Imagine how the State would have reacted if pedestrians had indulged in such violence to protest against the brutal treatment being given to them all over the country. The State has been capitulating before the violence and threats of the Shiv Sena for the last 30 years and of the MNS in the last few years.
It is seldom realized that pedestrians have to pay some kind of a toll in Mumbai. There are few road links between the eastern and western parts of the city and citizens have to use railway bridges and buy a ticket just to cross the bridge even when they do not want to travel by train.
Besides, the whole motorization model adopted by the elite has failed miserably and only worsened traffic problems. The much trumpeted Nano car of theTatas has proved to be a worse disaster than was thought earlier. The latest crash test results carried out on this and other Indian cars in England have shown how unsafe they are. The nose of the Nano car folded like a cardboard box during one such test. Imagine, the CPM fatally championing the cause of this car and the BJP government in Gujarat giving it subsidy of hundreds of crores of rupees. The Indian aviation safety ranking is also downgraded. This shows the complete defeat of the elitist transport and traffic policies of the Indian elite.
Interstingly, Mr Ratan Tata has made some honest observations in a moment when he is not driven by the profit motive and car obsession. He said people want to travel by car but we talk our hearts out when we are walking. If you want to walk fast, walk alone, if you want to walk far, walk together. A good celebration of walking coming from a man whose image is so tied to the automobile.
One of the biggest threats posed by the automobile is to children and this is not only on roads. Cars have deprived children of space to play in the compounds of their buildings. And even playgrounds are not safe now. On January 31 I saw cars driving through the playground of St. Andrew’s school in Bandra when little children were playing football. The motorists going to the St Andrew’s auditorium invaded the ground as the regular access road was being repaired. Here car parking is free and this further encourages the use of motor vehicles which can be easily curbed if people use taxies. But this is below the dignity of the arrogant class which wants to flaunt all their possessions while it lives a culturally bankrupt life.
So many car trips in Mumbai can be easily reduced with better planning. Mumbai’s rich seem to lack any sense of planning even when it comes to their own needs. I notice that not a single decent new school has come up in the whole of the island city in the last few years. The result is that all the rich who are now displacing the poor in the island city are driving a long distance to send children to schools in the suburbs. The rich have grabbed hundreds of acres of mill land for luxury housing and commerce completely forgetting about the cultural and educational needs.
In the suburbs, where much more land was available, few decent theatre auditoriums or auditoria have come up with the result all the elite schools there organize their annual cultural programmes far away in St. Andrew’s auditorium in Bandra. So hundreds of cars make totally avoidable trips besides causing terrible congestion and traffic safety problems around the auditorium.
(Vidyadhar Date is a senior journalist and author of the book Traffic in the Era of Climate Change. Walking, Cycling, Public Transport need priority).
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