Low ways and highways

There is a dynamic between roads and people that8217;s hard to beat. If people make roads, roads make people. This is precisely why so much...

There is a dynamic between roads and people that8217;s hard to beat. If people make roads, roads make people. This is precisely why so much popular hope has been vested on the integrated cross-country road project known as the Golden Quadrilateral 8212; four-lane highways linking the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was quick to recognise the potential of such infrastructure and it was one of the first major projects he espoused as prime minister. Every year the project unfailingly figured in Red Fort speeches and in presidential addresses as a talisman of government intent. Politicians hailed it, corporates swore by it, people dreamed of it. Yet, as this paper in a special series, 8216;Halting Highways8217;, reports, the Golden Quadrilateral8212;despite its VVIP status8212;is fast losing its sheen, with just a quarter of its projected 5,846-km stretch anywhere near completion.

If the government is unable to deliver on something that is so high profile, how can it be depended upon to ensure that projects much lower down the food chain actually fructify? Is the one story, slated as a happy one, about to have an uncertain ending? Are we going to witness a promising development initiative slide into the familiar abyss of bureaucratic red tape and apathy? While the Express investigation promises to strip the project bare to take stock of every hurdle that could stall it, there are some obvious roadblocks that need to be flagged rightaway. Take, for instance, the lack of sync between the Central and state authorities on the project. The enthusiasm for it seems to wane the further one goes from Delhi, so much so that in the great hinterland the mighty highway project is held hostage to problems ranging from serious snarls like land acquisition to insignificant hiccups like the relocation of electricity poles. Therefore, while the one shining example of efficiency emanating from the project is the impressive progress made on the 1,936-km Delhi-Mumbai stretch, there are areas where it appears to be heading for nowhere land.

But things are not all bleak. It is not as if the project is about to give up its ghost. Private sector participation brought in through build-own-transfer schemes has meant that a project which, in the good old days, would have taken decades to acquire any shape is now very much a national presence. The fact that people perceive a stake in the project has helped a great deal. Many have voluntarily made their adjustments by allowing shops and homes to be razed because they feel they and their families would eventually benefit from it. Even the very fact that questions are being raised about the project8217;s timeline indicates a new sense of professionalism. India, it seems, is no longer prepared to stand by and watch patiently for its future to be built, shovel by shovel. There is now a palpable anxiety to hit the high road, and now.