On May 9, 2009 at Nanda Road : First hand account

On May 9, 2009, there was supposed to be a question and answer session with the Managing Director (MD) of BMRCL at Nanda Road. We woke up early in the morning and reached Nanda Road by 8:00 a.m. As we reached, we saw several enthusiastic people already there with several posters that read "Vote For Trees", "Save Trees" etc. with pictures of trees that were hand drawn.

There were also some posters that said "We Support Metro" with pictures of the faces of the presidents, secretary etc. of some organizations.

We all started chanting "Ulisi Ulisi Nand Road Ulisi", "Sarisi Sarisi Metro Saris", "Beke Beku Nyaaya Beku" etc. After a little while we came to know that the MD of BMRCL has arrived. So I was hoping that the interactive session would start. I was kind of excited about this. But pretty soon we realized that a group of people surrounded the MD and did not let him talk to us at all. Among these people, some faces that could be seen were the MLA, some office bearers of Federation of Jayanagar Residents Association etc. That was bizarre and insulting.

Why do you have avoid the bunch of peaceful protestors? Were they worried that they have no answers to difficult questions? Whatever the reason was, their gesture was demeaning, insulting and undemocratic. But we were also not willing to give up. We kept on speaking on the loudspeaker and kept urging the MD to address us. MLA was answerable to the public. MD of BMRCL was answerable to the public. Even police did not allow us to move closer to him. This clearly shows what can you expect from Police.

After 3 hours of relentless persistence, we heard the MD will address us. Did he have any other options? If he didnt, our next move was to go directly to MLA's house. People were fed up for being taken for granted.

Now started the most disappointing moment. Environmentalist Mr. Leo Saldanha first asked about the zig-zag nature of Metro for which MD gave some answers. After this, the MLA Vijay Kumar wanted to say something. When Leo was telling about how even Mr. Vijay Kumar supported us in the past, suddenly some bullies started shouting. Even Mr. Vijay Kumar started shouting. For a moment, I started thinking if I am in the middle of the hooligans who are with the MLA. One of the hooligans was shouting in a threating manner towards Leo.

The other person was Mr. Keshava Kumar. He is supposedly the secretary of the Federation of Jayanagar Residents Association. But the way he was behaving himself reminded me of some roadside hooligan. His gesture of showing his index finger towards a young lady was so shameful. And by the way, this is my first hand eye witness account.

And we call ourselves democratic where these kind of goondaism behaviors are acceptable?

Next disappointing moment was that the MD and his group spent hardly an hour with us. For such a huge project which is worth almost Rs. 9000 crores, dont the public have the right to ask questions? How long can we remain passive in this country?

The MD and his group hardly answered a question or two and left. Several questions remained unanswered.

Prof. B K Chandrasekhar, ex minister addressed the crowd as well.

Several questions remain unanswered.
In a democracy people have to take a stand. Based on an informed decision.

Otherwise, we will be a perennially complaining citizenry, complaining about how things are bad in our society. So we should rather step up and do whatever we can so that we can atleast say "I tried".

I was uninitiated to the campaign to Save Lalbagh and save the environment. But after I looked into certain stuff, I decide to take part in this campaign.

And I continue to learn more and more.