Monday, August 07, 2006

A road more travelled

A friend of mine often says 'In most parts of the world,people drive on the left. In Pune, we drive on what's 'left' on the road'. This is so very true about Pune. During rainy season, driving on the crater-sized potholes all over the city roads is nothing less than an adventure.
A city that is growing by leaps and bounds is plagued by lack of basic infra structure. With 6 major IT parks in the city, the roads leading to them are full of pot holes. To make the matters worse, even street lights don't function. Its difficult to name 1 single road that is in good shape - Nagar Road, Paud Road, COEP Road.
With lakhs of IT engineers working in India's so called Silicon Valley, the government collects crores of rupees in form of Income Tax. What do these people get in return ??
Compare this with Silicon Valley in California. Every possible infrastructure is made available to the common man - be it roads, be it street lights, be it traffic signals. Every penny of tax paid to the government is worthwhile in CA.
With this trembling infra structure, I think 'India Shining', 'making Shanghai out of Mumbai', 'India Rising' are mere slogans.