President Pranab Mukherjee’s two-day visit to Bengaluru promises much inconvenience to the already harried commuters. A slew of curbs on movement of traffic and parking of vehicles have been announced and these can be expected to cause traffic jams across the City. The roads through which the presidential convoy will pass in the course of his engagements in the City are among the busiest and at the best of times commuters taking these roads are stuck in traffic jams for hours. Traffic curbs imposed now for the President’s visit will worsen the situation on these roads. What is more, several roads that are not on the motorcade route are being blocked off too. This will add to the nightmare. While concerns over the President’s safety and steps to enhance it are understandable, beefing up security can be done intelligently, in a way that causes minimum hardship to the common man. This is possible; VIP travel the world over is a concern for security agencies but they do not trigger nightmarish traffic jams as they do in India. VIP motorcades here involve dozens of vehicles, many of them are not essential for security but included more as a show of strength. Keeping the size of these convoys to a minimum is one way to reduce the time it takes for it to pass.
VIP motorcades, processions and rallies have become a public nuisance. People rushing for trains and flights, children going to school and patients being rushed to hospital are among its victims. In 2010, for instance, then prime minister Manmohan Singh’s motorcade in Cha-ndigarh delayed a patient reaching a hospital, resulting in his death. Since June, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been visiting various Bengaluru neighbourhoods ostensibly to listen to people’s problems. He would have heard them complain about trouble his convoys put them to. What has he done about it? What happened to his grand promise to carry out his City visits on Sundays to reduce the harm done by traffic jams?
It is time India’s VIPs end this feudal practice of travelling around in grand motorcades. This change must come from the top. Leaders must abjure this habit of travelling in convoys and insist on minimal fuss over their commutes within cities. President Muk-herjee’s visit to Bengaluru would be a good starting point. Rather than be remembered by Bengalureans for the troubles it caused, his visit could mark the beginning of a new VIP culture. The President must take note of the people’s problems that his visits cause and publicly distance himself from this convoy cult-ure. That would prompt other VIPs to follow suit.
VIP motorcades, processions and rallies have become a public nuisance. People rushing for trains and flights, children going to school and patients being rushed to hospital are among its victims. In 2010, for instance, then prime minister Manmohan Singh’s motorcade in Cha-ndigarh delayed a patient reaching a hospital, resulting in his death. Since June, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been visiting various Bengaluru neighbourhoods ostensibly to listen to people’s problems. He would have heard them complain about trouble his convoys put them to. What has he done about it? What happened to his grand promise to carry out his City visits on Sundays to reduce the harm done by traffic jams?
It is time India’s VIPs end this feudal practice of travelling around in grand motorcades. This change must come from the top. Leaders must abjure this habit of travelling in convoys and insist on minimal fuss over their commutes within cities. President Muk-herjee’s visit to Bengaluru would be a good starting point. Rather than be remembered by Bengalureans for the troubles it caused, his visit could mark the beginning of a new VIP culture. The President must take note of the people’s problems that his visits cause and publicly distance himself from this convoy cult-ure. That would prompt other VIPs to follow suit.