More thoughts on Road Widening

I really did not want to post on this topic after last time's post which I thought said most of what I had to say, but I'm back. Here's why.

With the new govt. firmly in the saddle, orders are out to finish all road widening in the coming six months. One gone five to go. That's how long our trees have, folks! Already in Koramangala we are seeing huge, stately old trees being mercilessly butchered to make way for wider roads. Worse than that, people like it! People you would expect to think differently! But lets not talk of that.

Not even talking now about the 40000 people on Avenue road (that has the misfortune of being in the way of a proposed six lane highway) who are going to lose their livelihoods for a road.

Nor am I talking of the eighteen villagers who died trying to cross the 30 kilometer road to the aiport that has only 4 traffic lights and no pedestrian underpasses. Over bridges cannot be constructed on a national highway as per NHAI rules. So the villagers must risk their lives daily so we can make that flight on time. Not talking about that though.

What I am talking about is the rising incidence of asthma and bronchitis among children. In the last 15 years, the percentage of kids with bronchitis and asthma has gone up from 8 to a whopping 40%! The incidence is higher among kids living in areas with less trees and greater vehicular population.

The writing's on the wall.

We may not care about trees. We may not care about about poor shopkeepers losing their source of income. We might not spare a thought to the poor villager by the side of the road.
But have we really fallen to such a moral abyss that we don't care about our children? Is our convenience on the road so important that we don't see that of the four kids out of every ten that can't go out to play because they have bronchitis, one could be ours?

I always thought with parents it was different. That it had to be personal. But in a world where a parent does not care for a child, the human race must be considered past redemption.