Reflection-3
Since the creation of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in July 1988 the ruling GNLF led by Subash Ghising has indulged in a number of development projects often funded by the foreign institutions. Construction of roads across the rural spaces of the ‘Queen of Hills’ occupy an important place in this connection. A large sum of money amounting to hundred of crores have been expended in such venture. Truly, development, be it in the field of health, education, tourism or infrastructure, is the single most important aspect of human civilisation on the ongoing march towards ever higher reaches. Darjeeling hills cannot be an exception in this regard.
The point, however, is how sustainable has been a particular development venture. While we proceed ahead in the process of development we need to respect certain aspects concerning the geographical location, environment conditions, over all aspirations of the general public, cultural institutions, and quality of the work, to name only the important few. It is here DGHC fails and it fails badly. One such failed venture has been the construction of a road stretching from Pala to Charkholay in Kalimpong Sub-division.
I could get hold of an opportunity to travel through the recently constructed ‘Pala-Charkholay’ road and from Charkholay to Suruk via Samthar this October (2005). In the mean time I could also lay my hands on an impressive article titled ‘Bahra Barsama Unniu Phulyo Gukai Ganda’ published in a local vernacular daily ‘Himalaya Darpan’ on the ‘Pala-Charkholay’ stretch by a local writer from Sinji Busty. My travel through the new road and my personal observations on the regional planning, designing, engineering and the total budget invested on the project validated the proverbial title and the bold arguments presented in the article.
The present condition of the ‘Pala-Charkholay’ road compelled me to explore few technical details of the project. The project amounting to over 8 crore was funded by the World Bank. The main objective of this venture is to connect the rural spaces located beyond Relli Khola that had been isolated from the paradigm of development for a very long period of time within Darjeeling Hills. It was to be implemented under the direction and guidance of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. The technical resource was to be shared between the adhoc officers of DGHC and the deputed officers of the Government of West Bengal. The total length of the ‘Pala-Charkholay’ road is 20 kilometer while the breadth comes to 22 feet on paper. The first phase of the project started in early 2004 and completed in early 2005.
As a critical observer I could find the following avoidable shortcomings in the project, among many others.
1. There is a total lack of professionalism on the part of the project implementer through out the 20 kilometer stretch;
2. The occasional walls constructed to prevent erosion and slides are far below the satisfactory mark;
3. The causeway along the road is not up to the mark;
4. Roadside drainage built to direct the young rivulets is below the official specification. Reportedly, on paper it is 2 ft but on field it is not more than 1 ft;
5. The estimated breadth of the road on paper is over 20 feet; on field it is not more than 12 feet (approximately), going down to less than 8 feet (approximately) at some places;
6. And most importantly, the road lacks scientific alignment. Alignments are directed as per the vested interest of the local heavy weights. The designing of the road is zero. It appears that the road was dug by the villagers voluntarily without the expertise of professional engineer(s) not to talk of regional transportation planner or architect. In short, the whole project lacks proper regional planning and contemporary professionalism.
While we were on the way, the rustic passengers often joked and gossiped on the workings of the DGHC. One middle aged man went further to point out that the construction of this road might not have cost more than 3 crore while others started laughing as we were at the point where we had to get down and push the vehicle. There are some points where the tired Marshal, Savari or Commander denies climbing. At such points passengers are forced to unload and push the vehicle. Further there are turning points where the vehicle cannot pass through at one go; it has to stop, get back and go again slowly. The walls are horrible. Many of them could not sustain the 2005 monsoon and have already collapsed. Seeing at a particular collapsed wall one passenger quickly spoke out his mind, “12 bag baluwa ma ek bag cement misayo bhaneh yestai huncha. Darjeeling ma gharkai manche le afnai ghar lutcha” (if you mix 12 bags of sand in a bag of cement this is the only consequence. In Darjeeling we have a habit of looting our own house). Here he was referring to the local contractors and engineers.
The road stretching from Charkholay to Samthar although not carpeted is much better than the earlier counter part. From Samthar to Suruk (Santi Bazar), officially, there is no road communication. But the energetic and enterprising Surukays have dug a road stretching over 5 kilometers on their own on a voluntary basis. Besides few thousands rupees granted by Gram Panchayat and local Christian Missionary no financial resource was available for the purpose. It was the villagers who collected money from among themselves and contributed human resource needed to build this road. Yet this stretch is as good as the 20 Kilometer ‘Pala-Charkholay’ stretch that amounted over 8 crores of rupees and that was constructed under the able guidance and direction of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
My basic purpose of travelling through ‘Pala-Charkholay’ road was to save my time and reach Suruk earlier than it usually take me from my traditionally route. But by the time I reached Santi Bazar (Suruk) it was already dark. May be it was over 6 pm. Our marshal had left Kalimpong at 12.30 pm. Did I save my time? Besides being tired after pushing the vehicle and jerking all day along the rocky bed of the road, one has to bear in mind that the whole stretch is very risky to travel as the road needs tremendous corrections and recorrections. For me this will be my first and last travel through this route. I would prefer to follow my old route via 27th mile and walk the forested hills stretching about 4 kilometers. Even after walking for 4 kilometers I would save some 2 hours; that too with a guarantee to reach my destination in peace not in pieces.
This has been one of the first attempts of DGHC to connect the villages located beyond Relli Khola with Kalimpong Town in the last 17 years after it was formed. Hence, instead of terming the ‘Pala-Charkholay’ project as ‘Bahra Barsama Unniu Phulyo Gukai Ganda’ I would dare to slightly reframe the proverb and put it as ‘Balla Balla Unniu Phulyo Gukai Ganda'.
The point, however, is how sustainable has been a particular development venture. While we proceed ahead in the process of development we need to respect certain aspects concerning the geographical location, environment conditions, over all aspirations of the general public, cultural institutions, and quality of the work, to name only the important few. It is here DGHC fails and it fails badly. One such failed venture has been the construction of a road stretching from Pala to Charkholay in Kalimpong Sub-division.
I could get hold of an opportunity to travel through the recently constructed ‘Pala-Charkholay’ road and from Charkholay to Suruk via Samthar this October (2005). In the mean time I could also lay my hands on an impressive article titled ‘Bahra Barsama Unniu Phulyo Gukai Ganda’ published in a local vernacular daily ‘Himalaya Darpan’ on the ‘Pala-Charkholay’ stretch by a local writer from Sinji Busty. My travel through the new road and my personal observations on the regional planning, designing, engineering and the total budget invested on the project validated the proverbial title and the bold arguments presented in the article.
The present condition of the ‘Pala-Charkholay’ road compelled me to explore few technical details of the project. The project amounting to over 8 crore was funded by the World Bank. The main objective of this venture is to connect the rural spaces located beyond Relli Khola that had been isolated from the paradigm of development for a very long period of time within Darjeeling Hills. It was to be implemented under the direction and guidance of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council. The technical resource was to be shared between the adhoc officers of DGHC and the deputed officers of the Government of West Bengal. The total length of the ‘Pala-Charkholay’ road is 20 kilometer while the breadth comes to 22 feet on paper. The first phase of the project started in early 2004 and completed in early 2005.
As a critical observer I could find the following avoidable shortcomings in the project, among many others.
1. There is a total lack of professionalism on the part of the project implementer through out the 20 kilometer stretch;
2. The occasional walls constructed to prevent erosion and slides are far below the satisfactory mark;
3. The causeway along the road is not up to the mark;
4. Roadside drainage built to direct the young rivulets is below the official specification. Reportedly, on paper it is 2 ft but on field it is not more than 1 ft;
5. The estimated breadth of the road on paper is over 20 feet; on field it is not more than 12 feet (approximately), going down to less than 8 feet (approximately) at some places;
6. And most importantly, the road lacks scientific alignment. Alignments are directed as per the vested interest of the local heavy weights. The designing of the road is zero. It appears that the road was dug by the villagers voluntarily without the expertise of professional engineer(s) not to talk of regional transportation planner or architect. In short, the whole project lacks proper regional planning and contemporary professionalism.
While we were on the way, the rustic passengers often joked and gossiped on the workings of the DGHC. One middle aged man went further to point out that the construction of this road might not have cost more than 3 crore while others started laughing as we were at the point where we had to get down and push the vehicle. There are some points where the tired Marshal, Savari or Commander denies climbing. At such points passengers are forced to unload and push the vehicle. Further there are turning points where the vehicle cannot pass through at one go; it has to stop, get back and go again slowly. The walls are horrible. Many of them could not sustain the 2005 monsoon and have already collapsed. Seeing at a particular collapsed wall one passenger quickly spoke out his mind, “12 bag baluwa ma ek bag cement misayo bhaneh yestai huncha. Darjeeling ma gharkai manche le afnai ghar lutcha” (if you mix 12 bags of sand in a bag of cement this is the only consequence. In Darjeeling we have a habit of looting our own house). Here he was referring to the local contractors and engineers.
The road stretching from Charkholay to Samthar although not carpeted is much better than the earlier counter part. From Samthar to Suruk (Santi Bazar), officially, there is no road communication. But the energetic and enterprising Surukays have dug a road stretching over 5 kilometers on their own on a voluntary basis. Besides few thousands rupees granted by Gram Panchayat and local Christian Missionary no financial resource was available for the purpose. It was the villagers who collected money from among themselves and contributed human resource needed to build this road. Yet this stretch is as good as the 20 Kilometer ‘Pala-Charkholay’ stretch that amounted over 8 crores of rupees and that was constructed under the able guidance and direction of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
My basic purpose of travelling through ‘Pala-Charkholay’ road was to save my time and reach Suruk earlier than it usually take me from my traditionally route. But by the time I reached Santi Bazar (Suruk) it was already dark. May be it was over 6 pm. Our marshal had left Kalimpong at 12.30 pm. Did I save my time? Besides being tired after pushing the vehicle and jerking all day along the rocky bed of the road, one has to bear in mind that the whole stretch is very risky to travel as the road needs tremendous corrections and recorrections. For me this will be my first and last travel through this route. I would prefer to follow my old route via 27th mile and walk the forested hills stretching about 4 kilometers. Even after walking for 4 kilometers I would save some 2 hours; that too with a guarantee to reach my destination in peace not in pieces.
This has been one of the first attempts of DGHC to connect the villages located beyond Relli Khola with Kalimpong Town in the last 17 years after it was formed. Hence, instead of terming the ‘Pala-Charkholay’ project as ‘Bahra Barsama Unniu Phulyo Gukai Ganda’ I would dare to slightly reframe the proverb and put it as ‘Balla Balla Unniu Phulyo Gukai Ganda'.
posted by Vimal Khawas at 1:26 AM
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