I had heard of his e-governance, how Patnaik had managed to digitise almost all govenment records, and the entire administration so that people of the state could be served effectively and efficiently. It was socialism in action, most of his welfare schemes are carried forward by the government. This time I saw some of it in action -- there are Urban Health Centres everywhere in the city where emergency and urgent medical attention is provided to all citizens, without any fuss -- they ask to see no papers, they simply do what is required, a tetanus injection, a baby vaccine, whatever... And if they don't have the wherewithal to do what is needed, they direct you to the nearest health centre that does. My friend needed a tetanus injection after a dog bite. They gave him that but also suggested he go and get an X-Ray done because he had slipped in the process and hurt his ankle. No charges, for anything.... And the dimensions of the swanky new SCB Hospital building that is coming up in Cuttack is to be seen to be believed. I did not see any private hospitals there that came anywhere close...
That was health, as for education it was the same thing... children in government schools are carefully nurtured, they have the best teachers, not to speak of the tasty midday meals, the school uniforms, and the books that are all given to the students for free. And unlike here in Assam where anyone who can will send their children to a private English medium school, there one sees children of many top academics, politicians and bureaucrats studying in government schools. Yes, they probably don't speak English like the Brits when they finish, but why should they? Nor do the children from the half baked private English medium schools for that matter. Cuttack still is home to the Odisha High Court and also the National Law University, Odisha. It also has some major educational institutions like the old and stately Ravenshaw University (with a new Mahanadi campus) and the new Sri Sri University . There are many more in neighbouring Bhubaneshwar.
Food was available in plentiful, and what is more, available at resonable if not dirt cheap rates. The top spot of course goes to the government run Aahar canteen in the Bus Terminal where one can get a full meal of rice-dalma-kheer for five rupees! Yes, your heard right, five rupees per plate! And the place is clean and the food is cooked fresh and is very tasty. Even otherwise, one could have a full and wholesome breakfast of idi-dosa-upma with a cup of tea and coffee and not pay much more than fifty rupees in most morning places by the roadside. The next level cafeterias and restaurants are not much more expensive. Markets are regulated and the maximum price to be charged for basic items like potatoes and onions are prominently displayed for all customers to see. The Domino Pizzas and KFCs might exist elsewhere, but I did not see any in Cuttack, where people are still proud of their chena-pura mithai and pakoras.
Construction work is going on also in Cuttack, but not to build fly-overs -- they are widening roads but without cutting trees, building drains and sewage canals, smart street lighting, huge world class stadiums, museums, parks and walkways for the citizens. Unlike our stadiums, theirs are right in the heart of the city and are being routinely put to use, to train younger kids as well as for hosting national and international tournaments. The Barabati stadium stands tall. There is a new world class golf stadium (with a blue astro turf top) and an indoor stadium all built under Naveen Patnaik. We went to see the newly set up museum in the birthplace of Subhash Bose -- beautifully done up, well maintained, with polite, knowledgeable staff, with very cheap entry tickets. The other celebrated son of Cuttack is Biju Patnaik whose home Anand Bhawan is also a museum.
If that government can do it, I don't see why ours can't. As for the BJP government that is now in place, replacing Naveen, it was called a 'Rang-badlau Sarkar', as the only visible thing they are doing is changing the colours of buildings and buses from Naveen's soothing light green to a awful not pink not orange colour that hurts the eye. My friend told me that the MLA of Cuttack is a young Muslim woman -- Sofia Firdous -- from neither the BJP nor the BJD but from the Congress! And that she is very well liked and has done a lot for her constituency and that they would keep voting for her irrespective of which party is in power. That in a city where almost 90% people are Hindu! It speaks volumes about the maturity of the voters too.
Traffic works well most of the time, even without flyovers. Electric buses ply within the city. And for long distance travel there are posh air conditioned, even sleeper coaches, almost at par with anywhere else in the world. And the impressive looking brand new Subhash Ch. Bose Bus Terminal in Cuttack looks better than an airport. Apart from large sitting areas and ticketing counters, there are shops for everything ranging from books, clothes, gifts, to food. The 5-rupee meals available at Aahar has already been mentioned. If you want to spend more or eat something else, there are other restaurants in the complex which is more like a Mall than an ISBT. And there is a 24 hour cloak room for your luggage where you can keep your luggage safely at minimal charges. Digitised boards direct passengers to the right bays from where the buses pull out in orderly fashion at the right time to nearby as well as faraway places like Kolkata and Vizag. And the best part about this whole place is that it is right in the heart of the city and not tucked away on some remote highway, like ours is; for us getting to (or from) the ISBT is an extra ordeal in itself. But not for people in Cuttack. The bus and train station have to be in the city, otherwise how will people use it, the people there told me. I agreed, but wondered why our leaders do not feel the same way. Could we not have had our ISBT located in Rupnagar or some such place which would have been much easier to reach for the end-users?
Most of Cuttack city has piped gas supplied by GAIL. The daily garbage collection is very effective and there are challans that will be imposed on anyone found littering their house fronts. But there are small earthen pots kept outside most houses. I found out that they were placed there to put vegetable waste for the cows to eat! In all the time I was in Cuttack, I saw no garbage heaps anywhere on the streets, instead there are garbage bins everywhere. And the best sight was what they had done to their Bharalu equivalent -- there is a water canal which is almost dry running through the city -- instead of making it a dumping ground for waste, they have cemented the slopes on both sides and have put barbed wire netting along both sides of the canal so that nobody can throw anything in. The result is a beautiful water canal running through the heart of the city, cooling it and making it even nicer.
Of course one cannot go to Cuttack and not be impressed by its two big rivers, the Mahanadi and the Kathjodi that together encircle Cuttack almost completely. The rivers are beautiful and everywhere there are ghats where people can go down to bathe, wash clothes or simply go for a little swim (sometimes adjacent ghats are reserved for men/women). I could not help thinking of our riverside development where there is not a single public ghat left after the kachari ghat and other smaller ghats along the river were subsumed under bigger and posher developmental plans. So today, if you want to go to collect water from a ghat, you might have to first pay entry into a park and then perhaps you might be allowed to fill your pitchers. Or maybe even that won't be allowed.
The best part of it all is that in all of this, I did not notice any private players anywhere -- garbage collection, transport, health, education, everything is run by the government -- no Adanis and Ambanis have made their way in. And remember that we are talking of Cuttack, not the capital city of Bhubaneshwar. Although Cuttack was the old capital of Odisha for very long, today the main administrative centre has moved away. Still the government cares, if the newly done up parks and exhibition spaces are an indication. And even in the back of beyond Siali beach (beyond Borikina) where hardly any outsiders visit, we found ramps for wheel chairs (adjacent to steps with railings) leading to benches for visitors to sit and enjoy the sea.
And the rules are being implemented, at least some. Unlike in Assam, the ban on single-use plastics seems to have been successfully implemented there. The reserved areas where the dolphins breed are completely protected and we met the son of a businessman whose industrial unit had been closed down because it was polluting the surrounding waters and endangering the wildlife and riverlife of that area. I could only wish that someone would do the same to protect our river dolphins that are dying, posioned by industrial affluents being pumped into our rivers from the new industries set up on prime agricultural fields. In the countryside, we saw many shrimp farms in small to medium sized pools. We were told that the shrimp production was totally regulated and licensed and controlled by the government. Also in the countryside we saw irrigation canals and small barrages on the rivers to regulate the flow of water, also huge rain harvestors in the countryside connected to the system. It was clear that the government was doing a lot to promote irrigation.
In fact, what I saw in Odisha in the last days was a good example of how a government can and should work, what its priorities should be and how it should put the peole first and try to make their lives easier. I also saw the political maturity and the involvement of the normal people with matters relating to their city and to their state. They were well-informed and also were appreciative of the good that was happening and careful and willing to do their bit, by not littering for example, or by overspeeding and breaking traffic rules just for the fun. I came away hoping that someday when 'the current system of handing out doles to win votes' and 'construction craze only to get their cut' are over, someday we can wake up and learn some lessons from neighbouring Odisha. And if one man Naveen Patnaik could have done so much, even though he comes from a hugely rich family and has never known need, and has lived so many years abroad that he still can't speak Odiya well, surely we can hope that some young qualified, competent Asamiya young man (or lady) who cares for our land will land in Assam someday and lead our state out of this dark and completely crazy phase into one of good governance and efficient delivery, by the state and not by selling everything to private agencies.
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