Blockades, Bandhs and Bengal

In national perspective Bengal has hogged the limelight by it’s dubious distinction of calling road or rail blockades and bandhs at the drop of a hat. Here wild cat Rail roko and Rasta roko or sometimes called ‘chakka jam’ are the order of the day and almost a regular phenomenon. Little do the sponsors of these blockades think of people’s inconveniences . On the contrary, they don’t spare even critical patients on its way to hospitals in ambulances or cars during such blockades or bandhs. Many miss trains or flights, many fail to attend exams and interviews. Such list of ‘misses’ is endless. Recent devastating fire at Basanti Colony(slum) beside Bidhannagar railway station, Kolkata, which left a large number of people literally destitute, could have been earlier contained and loss of properties minimized had not the arrival of sufficient number of fire engines delayed to reach the spot because of road blockade, initially by auto operators and then by Trinomool Congress(TMC), the chief opposition party of the state. What’s most unfortunate, TMC didn’t postpone their Rasta roko program even after massive fire broke out at shanties. Such an incident should be an opener to all political parties who call blockades and badhs at the slightest pretext. But what’s sad, our politicians have lost that sensibility to take a lesson even from such a ghastly episode.