Saturday, May 26, 2018

Opening of the Cantonment roads.

There has been a general anguish among the defence personnel on the recent government diktat of opening the cantonment roads for the general public. Reasons cited are security concerns which, to an extent, is justified. The roads are well maintained, the loans and the grassy stretches that serve as pavements are clipped periodically.

The cantonment was a British concept introduced during the times when they ruled us. It was to keep the Indian Armed Forces insulated from the rest of the country so that they could be deployed against their own people in enforcing law and order. Accordingly, the 'fortress' was usually established about 20 km from the main city with excellent road connectivity. And over a period of time, the cities have grown and reached the gates of the cantonments!

The armed forces, all these years, had used their resources to beautify and bring orderliness in the cantonments, so much so, that all of them without exception beat the cities that they are meant to serve hollow, in maintenance and upkeep. For the general public, the area was out of bounds and they're required to make a detour to reach their destinations. When I was staying at the Delhi Cantonment, I remember all my friends and guests from the civvy street being perpetually in awe of the pristine surroundings of our environs. A few of them, even, wanted me to get permission for them to drive through for their outings but I used to politely refuse them saying that the security concerns needed to be understood and the terrorist activities that took place - at various places - only bolstered my reply and the requests had stopped.

For the defence fraternity who live in the areas, it might be a situation hard to stomach because they need to now get used to mad vehicular traffic, accompanied with the attendant noises.

My take.

The defence forces, need to take a more pragmatic view of the order and bolster the security because of greater exposure of the cantonment. We cannot tend to live in isolation from our civilian counterparts in perpetuity. To the extent feasible, non accessible areas should be earmarked and the least vulnerable ones be opened to thoroughfare without ever lowering the guard. 

To the higher ups, my advice would be, do not let this accessibility be used as a bargaining chip for huge chunks of playground and open areas to be given off to the land sharks who might have already set their eyes for such acquisitions, in future.......sadly, pliant seniors might bow to the wishes of their political bosses for their personal gains.


Tailpiece.

Mohanan was cremated at about 1130 hrs, this morning. The caretaker was giving the feedback on a minute-to-minute basis. It was raining heavily.     

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