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With illegal and polluting industries multiplying, the Capital is well on its way to becoming an industrial slum. Just who is to blame for the mess? By Ashutosh Sinha
But first, the inaction of the government. How can a government officer, who manages to spot specks of dirt in his office room, fail to notice illegal industries mushrooming all over, some of them in his own backyard? Someone, probably beginning with the Chief Secretary P.S. Bhatnagar, must be held personally responsible. The question, however, is this: Who needs the city's polluting and errant industries? Here is a sample of what the city has to brave because of unwanted and unplanned industries. With three million vehicles on the Delhi roads (nearly 700 vehicles are registered everyday), estimates by the transport department say that a little under a quarter of that population is directly related to the flourishing illegal industries. Drive the industries out and the city's roads become safer and less cluttered. The number of vehicles coming in from the neighbouring dormitories (that's what they are called in urban development parlance) will certainly slow down. Studies by the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) show that nearly 70 per cent of the power theft is accounted for by the industries. Need we say that a number of them---most would-be illegal industries---are located in non-conforming areas. There are a number of products, like pressure cookers, which are manufactured in the small-scale sector in Delhi because theft of electricity and non-payment of excise makes it a very viable business. Delhi's incidence of power theft, with nearly 50 per cent transmission and distribution (T&D) losses, has the distinction of being the highest in the country. Throw out the unwanted industries and the power situation will improve. So will the cash flow for DVB. But the change in demography, due to the presence of illegal industry, is what is killing Delhi. Thousands, if not millions, of workers from neighbouring areas---studies by the National Capital Region Planning Board suggest that more than 60 per cent of those settling in Delhi are from the immediate periphery---find a place in the hutment clusters. When that number swells enough to become a vote-bank, no politician dares raise bus fares, electricity tariffs, or other taxes. Result? Even if you, as an honest citizen, want a better standard of civic life by paying higher taxes, the influx of immigrants will continue to plague the city's health. These industries can certainly get workers in almost any part of India. That is not what their problem is. What the industries do not want to forego is the ready market that Delhi offers when compared with the Saharsa's or the Sambalpur's of the world. Move them out of Delhi and the size of the addressable market for their products takes a knock. So, who gains with the industry being allowed to stay on? The industries, the corrupt officials, and politicians, all of which sounds very familiar. The state government is now dreaming of making Delhi a cyber city by 2003. But nobody should mind illegal IT service companies coming up. At least, they don't pollute. |
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As
small-time industrialists and hired goons sought to spread chaos in Delhi
last month, some of those buried underneath a city supposedly rebuilt
seven times, must have turned. This time it is not war, but a
self-destruct streak of the government that may ravage the city. If,
indeed, the government succeeds in stalling the implementation of the
Supreme Court's orders to drive out non-conforming and polluting
industries, Delhi's trot towards becoming an industrial slum will turn
into a gallop. The elected government may win over the wisdom of the
judiciary, but the people will certainly be the losers.