16 March 2013, 05:42 PM IST
A few days ago I had the opportunity to drive on some internal roads in Punjab - Ambala - Chandigarh - Ropar - Hoshiarpur - Pathankot. On the way back we drove Pathankot - Jullundur - Ludhiana - Ambala - Delhi on the main highway.
I have never, anywhere else in India, seen so many so-called VIP vehicles, mostly with police escorts, on the roads. Barring maybe in Maharashtra. On the way back, we cruised our way through 5 radar controlled speed checks, being careful enough to stay just below the official speed limits. Invariably, we would then see some VIP cars pelt past at speeds way above the speed limits, and the gentlemen on duty there would salute these law-breakers as they sped past with red beacons and sirens on.
Here's what a VVIP car looks like. Reminds you and me of somebody? I don't know, they were having tea at Hoshiarpur too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vm2827/8559788872/in/photostream
At one speed check, we saw an ambulance pulled over for speeding - apparently it was headed for a pick-up, and that was not enough of a reason for exceeding the speed limit, it seems. Ofcourse, buses and trucks got the worst of it - despite paying huge tolls.
Obviously, our VIPs and their convoys no longer pay any sort of toll or tax on the roads, and if a dhaba owner was to be believed - they don't pay for refreshments either. What do the people of India, especially those in ordinary buses or local quasi public transport of the van and similar jugaad buggies think, while those who would loot and scoot shamelessly speed past in their tax payer provided luxury?
This is what some of them told me they thought - that the narcotics and arms trade of upcountry India rides piggy-back on these VVIP convoys. Could very well be true - Punjab's narcotic problem has been written about. A lot. If Indian Army jeeps can be caught stuffed full of heroin or cocaine or whatever, then what does one think anymore?
But hey, on coming back to Delhi, I read that the Supreme Court of India had asked a question:- what and where did all these VVIPs and VIPs come from? This is the article:-
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-03-15/india/37743926_1_vvips-beacon-lights-important-persons
I wish the Supreme Court had asked me. For the last few years, I have been asking this question, using RTI. Of everybody. Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister's Office. Home Ministry. And more. Here's one of the responses I received:-
http://www.rti.india.gov.in/cic_decisions/Decision_02022007_2.pdf
One of the other responses, the one from the Ministry of Home Affairs, was delivered to me by hand at home. The local police were mighty impressed. Here, I learnt that the whole VIP/VVIP thing emerged from the Order of Protocol. Or Table of Precedence. You can read it here:-
http://mha.nic.in/pdfs/table_of_precedence.pdf
Note # 1 to this says very clearly:-
"Note 1 The order in this Table of Precedence is meant for State and Ceremonial occasions and has no application in the day-to-day business of Government. "
It doesn't get clearer than that, does it?
But still, everybody and their uncle, chairperson, member or whoever else, will pelt past us. As VVIPs. The main benefit, apparently, is to skip paying toll. And break speeding laws.
And here's the fun part - another RTI application I had filed with the Ministry of Transport, claimed that nobody had asked for exemption from paying toll. So?
So. Why can't our VVIPs pay toll and claim back from wherever they are VVIPs at? I mean, we are about the only country which also exempts diplomats from paying highway toll. They buy train tickets, plane tickets, and claim. But roads are, what?
And then we complain that the Italian soldiers have done the vanishing trick. Maybe they were VVIPs too.
+++
I counted 79 VIP/VVIP convoys, of all sorts, going in the other direction between Pathankot and Delhi in just one journey. Question then arises, is not who is a VVIP, but how do the rest of us also become VVIPs?
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India reBuild - on the VVIP road to nowhere
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