HIGHWAY ROBBERY

HIGHWAY ROBBERY

By

VK Singh

            In days gone by, travelers were often robbed on the roads, by highway men. They were relived of their money and allowed to proceed. Today, the highwayman does not take away your cash. All that he takes away is your time. In fact he gives you something – frayed nerves, rising tempers and a desire to commit murder. Guess who he is? The new breed of politicians.

Last week we decided to drive down, or rather up, to Lansdowne, a small cantonment town in the hills. It is the home of the Garhwal Rifles of the Indian Army. I had driven on the route several times. One crosses the Jumna from the Nizamuddin Bridge, drives on NH 24 until the Delhi – UP border, then turns left for Meerut on NH 58. From Meerut one takes the road to Mawana-Bijnor-Najibabad-Kotdwar, from where the hills start. Lansdowne is about 40 Km from Kotdwar. One cannot get lost or miss the road, thanks to the traffic. But that is exactly what we did.

After crossing the Noida T Point near the Akshardham Temple, we cruised merrily along. There were seven of us in the Innova, between the age of 4 and 64, so things were not exactly quiet. I knew that the left turn for Meerut via Mohan Nagar was prominently marked so I kept going. Soon after crossing the border I saw a huge signboard above the road with a picture of Mayawati and the local Lok Sabha aspirant from her party. We kept going and soon saw another board and then another. It was only after crossing half a dozen boards that we realized that we had missed the turn for Meerut. The huge signboard with the pictures of the BSP politicians was in fact the NHAI board showing the directions, as someone told us. It was not possible to turn back and so we had to keep going. We thought we would turn left as soon as we saw a board indicating Meerut. Guess what? We never found one. Ultimately, we kept going all the way to Garh Mukteshwar, crossed the Ganges, and then turned left for Dhanaura and on to Bijnor. In the bargain, we lost a good hour and a half, did an extra 50 Km of distance, and everyone was not exactly in the best mood when we arrived at Lansdowne.

Has the National Highways Authority of India sub let the sign boards to the BSP, I wondered. In any case, why would anyone be interested in seeing the face of the local politician, a dozen times on the road? The people who vote for him perhaps never travel on the highway. Then what was the aim of putting the picture of Mayawati along with his own? I asked a guy at the tea shop where we stopped for lunch. He smiled, gave me a pitying look that seemed to say - I thought city guys were smart.  “The pictures were put up not for us, but for the Chief Minister. She came here last month. She came in a helicopter but you never know, suppose she had come by road? And once her picture is up there, no body will dare remove it.” He was dead right. Well, all I can say is that this was nothing but robbery on the National Highway. 

When we returned to Gurgaon after a week, we took the usual route to Palam Vihar through Bijwasan. Lo and behold, if it there wasn’t another case of highway robbery. The signboard indicating the turning for Palam Vihar on the Najafgarh road, right inside the village had been painted over.  It now had the name of an ex-MLA of the BJP who lived nearby. Not bothering to put up another board – it costs money you know - he simply painted over an existing board. In the bargain, the number of motorists over shooting the turning has multiplied. Why would any one be interested in knowing where an ex MLA lives, that too of a party not in power, I asked? I we did not stop for tea or I am sure I would have got an answer.