Clearing public spaces

The exasperation of the Supreme Court bench headed by the chief justice with regard to the encroachments on public spaces like pavements, lanes and bylanes of towns and cities is understandable. A distinct lack of political will is behind the helplessness of any authority to be able to clear public spaces so people and their means of transportation can move about freely. Getting in each other’s way in narrow spaces is a kind of national pastime since the pavements are choked with roadside places of worship, hawkers, traders, idlers and those who believe there is nothing like a sensible ban on parking a vehicle, which depends solely on the owner’s will and convenience. Judges and courts have such a problem getting their own premises and the roads abutting them cleared of encroachments that their frustration at achieving something for the greater good shows clearly.

The only rule that seems to apply in India is public spaces belong to everyone. No wonder the Chief Justice spoke with feeling about there being no magic wand to bring about a benevolent administration that would make all the common problems disappear. There can never be a “Ram Rajya” in these times when there is a collapse of the individual will towards doing anything that would be for the public good, so selfish have we been rendered by circumstances, starting with the general lack of space. The politicians who can act on it would hesitate to because there is a potential vote in every one of those violators of rules for the common good. The beauty of it all is there is a chaos that defines the underlying order of our teeming millions. Even “Ram” might agree that problems have outgrown solutions.