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“Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work”… Vince Lombardi.
Vincent Thomas Lombardi was an American football player, coach, and executive in the National Football League. Well, few personalities can’t be measured in words & so was Vincent i.e. Vince as he was a wonderful human being & a great coach, who could make champions out of common men! It’s his above quote which shows his clarity of mind to achieve success as a team because what is a society but a team in nut shell! Though when this society is of our beloved Pune city, (Smart City too) then I doubt neither the citizens nor the rulers have ever heard name of Vince or else they would have at least some sense in displaying commitment towards the city as a society! I know, many die hard Punekar’s won’t like my statement but look at the news in recent & from both sides i.e. as citizens attitude as well rulers (well that we know, yet) regarding our so called civic sense or culture or duty towards city, whatever you call it & then I am sure you will understand what I want to put forward!
First is news about the two private companies (well needless to say both foreign cos’) who has been generous (read fool) enough to lend thousands of good condition cycles for the citizens of this city & at very cheap rate some Rs 10 per hour (pardon me if wrong but it was cheap) has decided to wind up this scheme which was floated under Smart City Mission (well it’s still on). And reason is negligent (read criminal) attitude of citizens towards these cycles as well the rulers who were supposed to keep control on such citizens! By now most of you have seen the new green/blue colored cycles parked on footpaths (where else as no place was planned for them) of every suburbs as how can one ward (read Mananiya i.e. Corporators) be left behind from others when it’s displaying the love & affection for city & citizens. Even when it’s fixing of benches or garbage bins or paver blocks on footpath, like plague suddenly entire city seems to have new ones & cycles weren’t exception to this rage! And then media also was publishing snaps of every kinds from the society riding these cycles may it be University Campus or suburb like Baner, suddenly for a while it seemed that entire city has time travelled few decades back & bicycles are replacing all other vehicles! But as usual this was just a fashion wave & just like any new fashion vanishes from the window display of shops; these cycles started being found anywhere but under the riders bottoms! Again media started publishing snaps of these cycles in garbage, in nallahs (there are many in the city), in slums & many were in damaged situation! This was & is true color of the city which takes pride to call itself Cultural Capitol of the State!
Let’s see what went wrong with the "Cycle for all" scheme as it’s said every failure has seeds of success ahead but provided we nourish those seeds & not kill them by ignoring which we are expert at in Pune! First of all there was no planning as usual before launching this cycle project as right from the place to park these cycles to which category these cycles (read users) have been targeted at, nothing was thought of! And what was not thought of is attitude of we the People (read Indians) as when we get something as public property then it’s nobody’s property is what we feel & use it accordingly! Here we don’t spare our Gods’ premise as its public property making it dirty by every possible way, how then the cycle like thing we would have spared! So the first mistake was relaying on the goodness (read social responsibility) of Pune public & making them available cycles with nobody to own them! Then the billing system is way hi-tech i.e. Wi-Fi or internet or online payment types; keeping due respect for "Achee Din" how many people who are required to use cycle for their day to day living can use online payment? And then there was no decided or fixed pick up & drop location (read shelter), outcome is we could find cycles after use parked (read thrown) anywhere in the city even in nallahs! And lastly there was no one to keep control on any of the misuse of the cycles, remember we are dealing with citizens who don’t follow traffic signals unless there is a police man that too in uniform, these very citizens throw garbage in their own city’s river right standing under the board “Keep you river clean”, its these citizens only who ride their vehicle in BRT lanes (though BRT itself is a joke) & never bothers about driving in one way from wrong direction, lastly this city’s residents needs to get fined for not wearing helmet for their own safety! Well, do you think with all such attitude some else would have been fate of the free cycles!
I wonder when we try to make this city Smart, why we forget what we are in first place! However you push or train a donkey yet it will never win a Derby race for you, is a basic fact, isn’t it? Keeping due respect for intentions of the civic body (read PMC) & its bosses to promote the use of cycles in city, all they could have done is use the man power which we have got in abundance. Many who are in there 40 plus age must be remembering cycles were available on deposit of mere rs 10 as well per hour rent Rs 2.0 (yes you read it right, rs 2 only) just few decades back & most people using them & returning the cycle one piece. On same line there are so many youths unemployed, all PMC could have done is outsource all these cycles to few of the youths & make them available at a fixed rate pet under strict manual control, so issue of cycle would have been with a fear in mind of the user that he has to use it responsibly & give back the cycle in time & in proper condition as he is answerable to someone while taking service of such cycles! Instead the civic body went on trying for hopeless solution like make the cycles available with online payment controlled locking system (by use of mobile phones); & we have seen outcome of it! In this city, people try to break the ATM machines which have CC TV & Security guards & you were hoping for these very people will use cycles with no owner actually, by paying on line; whom you are fooling but our own selves! I am sincerely sorry if I have hurt feeling of sincere Punekars’ as not all citizens are that bad but let me know if one sentence what I have wrote above is false or has put forward wrong facts! We can’t digest free meals is a fact & with failure of cycle renting system we once again proved it. I hope the civic body has learnt its lesson by both service provider companies in cycle scheme has winded up the project & in future will improve, as that’s all I can do! Why the rulers who makes such polices doesn’t take in confidence some business minded people (read Credai) who might have been guilty of making some money but are experienced in carrying out any idea successfully & make it sustainable commercially too! Yes I am referring to associations like CREDAI, CCI Or MCHI, even Merchants Association, as its these people who cares for city & knows a how to execute a venture without going in loss yet achieving the target. They all would have told, this idea of making cycles available with on line payment system & nobody to own them is bound to fail!
And then the target of making these cycles available was to reduce the burden of two & four wheelers from the roads but have the people (read citizens) of this category used these cycles to go their destinations? Answer is big No, all the use of such cycles was by few students & just for fancy or fun for joy ride! Because in this city, where space to ride these cycles safely is; is the question I will ask to entire city as can somebody provide the realistic condition of so called Cycle Tracks in city. Just by marking some paint strips on footpaths & putting signage it doesn’t makes cycle track, but who will tell this to our rulers! As every footpath as well so called cycle tracks has been encroached by parking of vehicles & all sorts of street businesses (anda bhurji, hawkers, CD sellers are few) & the poor cyclists has no choice but put his life in danger by driving among the bigger vehicles & their lawless drivers! Just try cycling through the ocean of vehicles in this city & surrounded by smoke from their exhausts & you will know why no working man or woman can dare to use cycle even for going to work! Till we don’t make dedicated cycle tracks its dangerous to use cycles in this city unless you don’t have any option is what most people thinks as you can’t go to office all sweating & with face covered by dust & smoke fumes, if at all you reach safely! Ideally these cycles could have used to commute from home to nearby public transport station may it be PMPML or Metro (when it will come) or even a rickshaw stand then there might (just hope) have been more takers but…
…But once again we are back on two wheelers & four wheelers & till the first Metro starts running in city (keep dreaming), let’s keep tangled in “break, clutch, gear” named hell with pollution levels from the exhaust of the vehicles going to new high every day! By the way if we the citizens’ are responsible for cycle scheme failure (more than civic body I meant) then our dear PMC/PCMC are not behind when it comes to irresponsibility towards the city. As the latest news coverage leader is PMPML (I still like the name PMT) with every day busses not just breaking down on roads but actually burning (read catching fire)! I think with nearly fifteen to sixteen odd cases in a year of busses catching fire while they are in running on roads we can name the PMPML busses as the infamous mutant character from Hollywood “Ghost Rider”, whose bike burns like hell while he rides it & leaves fire marks behind! Only difference the Ghost rider is immune to fire but the commuters on PMPML busses are normal humans who do get burnt by fire! And this is just one example of negligence towards public transport by civic body which is so keen to make people use less of their automobiles. The lesser we speak or write about public transport & its service to commuters, is better as the only effect it makes on readers (and writer’s too) is their BP shoots up!
Very very high time fellow citizens’ (And CREDAI as well MCHI & others) to get united & raise our voice as not just real estate but entire city’s fate lays on all these aspects which on face are minor & we ignore them as one more failure (fiasco) of civic body! Well, it’s not as these small failures are warning bails of a Tsunami which is in waiting as today already there is no space on road to move & even a distance of four to five km is taking some thirty odd minutes & more. Do mind the day is not long when every road & lane will be choked by our vehicles & even to get on the roads from doors of our society will become impossible & that day every trade of this city will become as stand still as the traffic on road & we only will be responsible for that; because our fault is we kept mum when we could have made difference, Smart Citizens we are!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..
Please view my sharing about real estate in Pune at U-Tube link below..
Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)
http://jivnachadrushtikon.
Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Take your issues to Hon PM at link below..
Think Green, Think Life
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