Bad infrastructure saves lives: Karnataka Chief Minister

(Special to MadMan’s Web)

Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh today lashed out at the media for
harping incessantly about the poor infrastructure in Bangalore. Singh said that
the media should paint a more balanced picture and not stress only the negative
aspects
of the city.

"If you believe only what you read in the papers, you will think that
people are only getting stuck in traffic jams every day. Why does nobody talk
about the reasoning behind the our potholed roads?", asked the furious
Chief Minister at a press conference today. When asked to explain, Singh said
that thanks to the potholed roads and impoverished infrastructure of the capital
city, many human lives had been saved. Referring to the recently
released statistics
that death from road accidents had gone down by 12% from 903 to
791, Singh gave credit to the poor roads and constant traffic jams in city. "You media people should put more value on human lives.
Earlier, people used to get hit by speeding vehicles. Thanks to our roads, we
have eliminated the possibility of reckless driving. Tell me, how can you hit an
innocent pedestrian or another vehicle when you’re driving on potholed roads at
20 Km/hour or if you’re caught in a traffic jam on Airport Road?", said the
CM.

Dharam Singh added that apart from the fewer accidents, inferior roads were
also an important part of stimulating the state economy because they generated
valuable jobs for the poor. He earnestly requested the middle class and
upper-middle class citizens to spare a thought for the numerous labourers and
construction workers who made their living from jobs generated by the road
repair and maintenance contracts that are being issued every year. "It is
easy for the people driving their expensive cars to complain about the state of
the roads. I ask these people to put themselves in the shoes of the poor person
who works on tarring roads. These people live a hand-to-mouth existence. If
there are no roads to repair, how will they feed their families?", asked
Singh.

The CM said he would recommend the Bangalore infrastructure model to other
states as well. He said that like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he too believed
in infrastructure reforms "with a human face". "Like it or not,
bad infrastructure saves lives", he concluded.