jaswindersandhu@rogers.com
psvkpfa@yahoo..
Delivery agencies?
This is in response to "Money Goes Down" (December 31, 2006). It is amazingly incisive and comprehensive. It gives an excellent account of the weaknesses and achievements of panchayati raj institutions (pris). The article has highlighted the macro and micro dimensions of pris, as it exists today. Now the question is how the civil society and government use this wealth of knowledge for corrective steps and consolidation. I understand that the second wave of reforms in improving and strengthening local-self governance must get a push now. The article, however, has failed to highlight that pris have begun to be seen as service delivery agencies, rather than institutions of governance. Ironically, this is contrary to constitutional mandate.
PANKAJ ANAND
panand@allianceindia.org
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Batting order, late, is it?
This is in response to "Bat tracks" (May 31, 2002). Thanks for one of the most informative article that I have ever read.
I've just spent the morning watching the fruit bats at the Theosophical Gardens in Chennai. And I am curious to know what kind of species they are and the hours of their activity.
Hundreds were flying back to their colony tree at 9 in the morning, which seemed late for nocturnal creatures. Also, I was surprised to see that their bodies were covered in a golden fur ... the tree looked laden with magical fruits. Thank you for a great website (www.downtoearth.org.in).
SUSAN HERBERT
susan_herbert@yahoo.com
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Congested economy
This is response to "Economics of congestion" (January 31, 2006). There is an issue that has to be faced squarely when it comes to providing roadway capacity in urban cities in Asia--of prioritising lanes or general roadway capacity to public transit.Your suggestions about congestion and pricing mechanisms corresponds to conventional wisdom that when it come to addressing common traffic-calming measures there is a critical shortfall of available urban roadway space in Asia, compared to similar metropolises in either North America or Europe.
As you also correctly point out, supply of roadway capacity attracts its own demand, resulting in perennial congestion within a typical laissez-faire approachto roadway traffic management--no tolls, no peak/off-peak traffic congestion charges, minimal or no parking fees. But it is high time that traffic authorities in Asian metropolises come to grips with the inevitable reality that a laissez-faire approach in traffic management will lead to sudden and acute traffic gridlock,no matter what additions to roadway capacity are factored into the system.
Given the current modal share patterns characteristic of trip generation between private and public transport modes, it behooves traffic management authorities to urgentlyprioritise available as well asplanned additional roadway capacity in favour of exclusive bus lanes to optimise the performance characteristics of public transit such as to retain (if not increase) existing modal share of urban traffic. That is to say that, in economic terms, supply management of roadway infrastructure has toexplicitly recognise the existing pattern of roadway use, rather than focus on accommodating ever-increasing volumes of private passenger vehicles.
I feel there is literally no alternative to explicitly managing and regulating the use of the entire urbanarterial network so as to preserve and protect existing modal share. Contrary to other forms of urban corridor infrastructure, such as metro or light rail, roadway capacity is in fact multi-modal and it should be conceived as yet another form of dedicatedpublic modalcorridor infrastructure in which the 'residual' or parallel general traffic lanes should be tightly regulated.
Nowhere in the world can it be legitimately claimed that urban transport is sustainable (with the possible exception of Singapore); hence to maintain this default approach to roadway capacity provision is a recipe for disaster, to which the application of the conventional 'menu' of traffic calming measures will simply not suffice.
Your organisation should now influence public authorities to think outside the box and adopt radical traffic planning and management measures.
ROBERT DESBIENS
rpdesbiens@gmail.com
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Witness
There is a stream, popularly called Vaei, which flows from Hoshiarpur to Jalandhar in Punjab, and finally joins the Sutlej river. At present, it carries along with it a lot of sewage and faecal matter. But this was not the case earlier. It was crystal clear with pure water flowing through the channel about 10 years ago. It was used by travellers and animals for drinking but now it emits such foul odour and stink that it is not possible to bear the stench anymore, its use for irrigation or consumption appears a far-fetched idea.
There have been several complaints by villagers living along its course. Incidents of people succumbing to the toxic water that is black in colour have also surfaced. The black colour is the result of industrial waste. The extent of damage is such that the leaves of the water hyacinth around have turned dry. The surrounding soil is also turning black on which there is no vegetation.
G S CHATHA
guljitsinghchatha@yahoo.com
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Test Message
Livelihoods of fisherfolk is at stake as the Mundra special economic zone (sez) on the northern shore of the Gulf of Kutch gets underway. Potentially the largest sez in the country, it covers 28 km of coastline and is spread across 13,000 hectares (ha).While the Adani Group, the promoters, claims the Mundra sez is the first to have both seaport and airport within it and offers substantial employment opportunities, ngos feel the sez will cause displacement and destroy livelihoods....
Collectively responsible
This is in response to 'Lethal dumping' (January 31, 2007). Needless to say municipal solid waste management is a complicated issue. Any initiative to improve solid waste management is bound to fail without the active involvement of the community. I do not understand how we can single out municipal authorities for mismanagement. The starting point for waste management is segregation of waste and this has to take place right at the resident's level. But does this happen?
Segregated waste is a resource and it can save lot of trouble for any waste management agency. Management of un-segregated or mixed waste remains a challenge the world over. There is no efficient technology to tackle this type of waste except for sanitary landfill facilities, which can accept any type of waste provided it is designed and built scientifically. Construction, operation and management of such facilities require huge amounts of money. Who will pay?
It is the community who should bear the cost. But municipal authorities are responsible as well. While I fully appreciate ngos' role as watchdogs, they should put extra effort into awareness programmes. As regards environmentally hazardous dumpsites in the country, little has been done despite the existence of the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules for more than six years. The central government could establish a special cell at the Union ministry of environment and forests or the Central Pollution Control Board and list out such sites based on hazard priority and invite international bids to rehabilitate them and later recover cost from respective cities. This may not be easy but it is certainly cheaper compared to the cost we are going to incur for remediation of environmental and health damage caused by these sites in future.
K D BHARDWAJ
kdbhardwaj2001@yahoo.com
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