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.
via MadMan's Web
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