Archive for June 2008
Petrol pump dryouts highlight fuel crisis
The report in today’s The Hindu about some petrol pumps going dry, following the pattern in some cities is neither surprising nor unexpected. Clearly, the oil companies with the tacit blessing of the Manmohan Singh Government are reducing their supplies, in order to restrict oil imports.
Badly maintained, ageing double deckers are used by MTC in Chennai
This stands in contrast to the policy of pumping up demand through brisk sales of automobiles, rather than tax petrol heavily and deploy the additional funds available to augment bus and train services, improve walking and cycling paths.
Not much imagination is required to see that the myopic policy on transport of both the UPA government and the state governments including the DMK in Tamil Nadu is hurting prospects of continued high growth and reduced inflation.
Politics and footpaths – no relief for pedestrians
Despite all the tall talk of adopting a modern, citizen-friendly city development paradigm, political parties have scant regard for people’s rights. What is public space is political party property. That is the psychology of all political parties in Tamil Nadu. The video below of a DMK-organised event, for which a scaffolding is being put up, makes that clear. Not that the AIADMK, the Congress, or the other parties are any different in this respect.
(video taken with a Nokia 3500c)
