This is the story about the Capital. But it could just as well be that of any other city in the country as it acquires new roads, flyovers, bridges and what have you. Certainly, Delhi today is a lot dustier. First, it was the flyovers and now it as the turn of metro rail project. The city is practically exploding with construction activity, with a lot of digging, planting and transplanting of concrete structures going on. Drive through one of these roads and you will see men, donning helmets and working round the clock, paying scant regard to the traffic that surrounds them. A big slice from the middle of roads has been blocked, leaving a narrow stretch for the cars, buses and other vehicles that flow like a river in spate. Often, the traffic spills over to makeshift lanes, creating a pall of dust that hangs thickly in the air. The dust compounds the problem created by vehicular emission. With the main roads choked with traffic, sleepy and quiet lanes have suddenly sprung to life. Nothing beats the instinct of the average driver about ways to get ahead. They discover alternate routes overnight and make a switch. Soon the situation in these lanes is no better. It's not just the dust but also the noise, the noise of gargantuan machines at work, of gigantic metal sheets being cut, of holes being dug and earth being moved. If driving through these dusty, noisy roads makes you feel testy, think about the condition of the men who are doing all this, who are constantly exposed to the dust and noise day in and day out. Many of them don't escape from the site even for a moment - makeshift jhuggis that have temporarily sprung up at the site is all they have to call a home. While driving through these roads, pay some attention to these construction sites. It will be a lesson on the safety codes and work standards practised in our country. The board bearing `Inconvenience Regretted' or `Work in Progress' is the only barrier between a big crater inside a blocked stretch and the road you drive on - the only barrier between life and death, in fact. Making construction workers don helmets without masks and earplugs indicates the extent of our concern for their safety. Once complete, these flyovers will provide free, uninterrupted corridors for traffic on arterial roads. The metro project will ensure the speedier, and more convenient movement of people between different parts of the city. But for this happy state to emerge do we necessarily have to go through this hell? A couple of months back I had gone to Perth, Australia, to observe work on a flyover under construction over the Swan River. I walked by the site on three consecutive days. The entire operation was so much under control that the white shirt I was wearing could have been worn for two more days! Just about a dozen workers on the site handled the show. The only inconvenience that the motorists were put to was in observing reduced speeds at one particular stretch. The most amazing thing was the information on display for the public. The information board contained all the necessary details: The different stages of the project, the name of the contracting agency, the date of the award of contract, the expected date of completion and even the contract amount. All this doesn't demand much resources. It does demand a certain standard of planning and professionalism.
