Magic on the road

A recent report says that the world8217;s most oft-repeated quote is Martin Luther King8217;s 8220;I have a dream.8221; As far as the pe...

A recent report says that the world8217;s most oft-repeated quote is Martin Luther King8217;s 8220;I have a dream.8221; As far as the people of this country are concerned, however, one of the most repeated quotes in recent times would surely be a young prime minister8217;s frank admission. 8216;8216;Out of every rupee spent for the poor or downtrodden, only fifteen paise reach the intended beneficiary8217;8217;, acknowledged Rajiv Gandhi.

One wonders whether the 15 paise have now declined to 14 or 13. After all, our homegrown racketeers could find a way to elude even the most fool-proof checks on corruption. Whenever the subject comes up in any discussion, a new story or two of thievery is always thrown up. Here is the latest narrated by my friend S.L. yesterday which has added to my repertoire.

It happened during the reign of the same prime minister and, ironically enough, as a result of the steps taken by him to tighten up the system. Rajiv Gandhi created a new ministry of progamme implementation. A road was being constructed in Assam and a team was scheduled to come and check out the claim that a couple of kilometres had been added to it. 8220;Of course, it was a false claim and we were in a fix since the time at our disposal was only three days. Our gang of five,8221; one of them recalled later, 8220;were swindlers. Now, disaster stared us in the face. All of us would be suspended. An inquiry would drag us through the dirt. Then a dismissal from our jobs. The more we pondered, the worse appeared to be our fate.8221;

Wasn8217;t there a way out 8212; a piece of road duly done up?

8220;A day passed. Our blood pressures rose a notch higher. Four of the group had assembled again. We sat motionless! Then arrived our fifth colleague.8221; 8216;8216;Well guys, there is one way we can save our necks!8217;8217; he announced. The foursome looked up in disbelief. 8220;What is it?8221; they shouted. 8220;That is a secret for the time being, but if you agree, we will have to shell out one lakh each. And leave the rest to me.8217;8217; The deal was okayed.

The inspection team arrived by a chopper and taxied to the relevant spot. There was the piece of road, shiny and clean, stretching as far as the eye could see. The milestones bore testimony to the newly added kilometres. Satisfied, the visitors flew back. The group hugged the saviour but could not guess how the magic had been done. Next day, the saviour had a visitor.

8220;I am the taxi driver who drove you yesterday. Where is my cut?8221; 8216;8216;What are you talking about?8221; asked the saviour. 8216;8216;Well, you uprooted the milestones, fixed them elsewhere and collected five lakh in the exercise. I must get a lakh as my share!8217;8217;

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The saviour weighed the pros and cons. He went in, returned with a packet of currency notes and handed them to the driver, 8220;Ok. This is the end of the story. Forget all about it and don8217;t talk of it to anyone! Clear?8221;