THE crisis of the Delhi Master Plan will not go away.
Jagmohan is concerned. Unless illegal industries are removed from residential areas,Delhi's collapse is inevitable.
Khurana is concerned. Unless the livelihood of two million people belonging to thefamilies of workers is protected, anarchy in Delhi is inevitable.
Both are right. Delhi must be saved as Jagmohan wants. Delhi's workers must beprotected as Khurana wants. The solution must therefore meet both ends as best it can.
The solution cannot be confined to Delhi. It must encompass the nation. The Delhicrisis is but a symptom of the Indian crisis. For half a century, corrupt governmentscontinuously distorted development. The affluent were pampered. The poor were abandoned.
Under Nehruvian socialism, government funds were squandered on five-star hotels, liquorbottling plants and other amenities for the rich. Half of India lived in darkness, denieddrinking water. Under market economy, foreign goods and investment were indiscriminatelyinvited. Consumers never had it so good. But Indian industry went bankrupt. Workers andfarmers lost their livelihood.
Delhi had two Master Plans. The first was from 1961 to 1981, the second from 1981 to2001. Both plans were raped by politicians and officials. Jagmohan was guilty. Khurana wasguilty. The bjp and Congress were guilty. We were all guilty.
In 1982, I wrote an article, "The Scandal of the Century". It described howRs 2,000 crore, a vast amount then, was squandered in violating the Master Plan bybuilding hotels, flyovers and stadia to house the Asiad. The funds were diverted frompriority Plan projects. Today, some of the stadia and hotels are still unused. Most peopleendorsed the Asian Games. Nobody cared for views such as expressed in that article. Exceptthe paper's editor. The editor was Vinod Mehta.
To solve the Delhi crisis now, we must overhaul the entire system. Each month,thousands of migrants pour into Delhi. First, this must end. Migrations will stop whenvillages provide jobs. This requires rural infrastructure. Which implies a reversal ofnational investment priorities. That's why we can't save Delhi without saving India.
There is an alternative. Muhammed bin-Tuglaq provided it. He shifted the nationalcapital lock, stock and barrel. But then he returned. If we shift, we might have nothingleft to return to.
Tone down the thunder,
Put an end to plunder,
Politicians must ponder-
Or Delhi goes under.
