Indra’s Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Noida- a Hell to Live in or a Dream Destination,

Posted : August 18, 2005 at 8:37 pm [IST]

We made a conscious decision in 1997 to have a permanent residence in Noida instead of Salt Lake, Calcutta. And many a times we repent and feel like going back to Calcutta. With the increasing age, it is becoming much more difficult.

Noida, as per UPSEB and Samajbadi Party leader Amar Singh who happens to head the UP development activities, is a ‘no power cut zone’. However, it is a total misnomer. Perhaps, my hometown Sasaram may be better placed today. How can one live with so many power outages every day? No sensible power supplier has any right, moral or legal, to go on switching off the power at will at anytime in the day and night as many times as it wishes. Why can’t the battalions of executive engineers and superintending engineers be a little more humane to the quality of life of the people- the older ones, sick, women, and children? Can’t they do anything to manage the available power in better way that does not cause this short of hardships? Are they aware of the insensibility of their employees in the sub-stations? Do they know that the corruption of the employees at these substations may be one of the causes behind these problems? The employees keep on thinking about all the possible ways and means to create hardships to individual consumers or those of an area to make money?

Life today is so much dependent on electricity, because of almost universal use of appliances that run on power in every home of all categories of people. Do the power supplying management expect people to discard these appliances? Is it not a fallacy of government policy? On one hand, it is promising electricity to all households of the country including the rural ones, on the other in this industrially important satellite city almost in national capital region the people suffer so badly. I don’t know how they expect every one to go on line and have computers.
There is nothing new in India about the power shortage and so outages. But the residents can certainly demand a scheduled outage notified well in advance, so that they can find the best way of comforting them, might be by moving to multiplexes, which are air-conditioned.

The funniest thing is the lack of protest from the people. Leave beside the commoners, Noida must be the residence of many high ranking people who have served or serving in key positions of administration of state and central governments, large public and private companies, and institutions of national importance. But that does not make any difference in the quality of life in Noida. Either they have made arrangement for power with big generators that I see very often outside some houses causing noise pollutions, and powerful inverters, or some honest ones must have developed the tolerance to live in this situation. I was amazed when someone remarked. “They have accumulated so much money that they can have a private power house for them.” With no protest, I feel like believing it.

Noida Authority is very rich. With its revenue from the allotment of residential and commercial plots, it can easily build its own power plant and be independent of UPSEB or can have its own water treatment plant to provide drinkable water to the residents. But it can’t do it, because either the CEOs lack foresight and will not be allowed to do it and solve the problem forever or the state government, and as we hear the chief minister of the state will not let it happen as, he needs the money for some of his other commitments.

But I loved the funniest suggestion from my wife. As we couldn’t run the pump because of power outage, there was no water in the tank and taps. I was waiting for power to come to take my bath before taking lunch. It started raining. My wife shouted, “Why are you not collecting some rain water.” I replied, ‘No, I am going out in rain and will have the natural bath after many years.”

- Indra

Category: Government Policy/Administration |