This refers to Subir Gokarn's column "Slippery slope for infrastructure" (Muddy Waters, March 10). The author correctly points to the appalling state of infrastructure in the country. Even as he observes a great new airport, he finds "no noticeable road to get to it". Take, for instance, the greenfield airport in Navi Mumbai. Are we planning to build efficient road and rail connections around it? It seems doubtful, especially since the government has dropped the rail portion of the road-cum-rail bridge between Nhava Sheva and Sewri. The author notes that "it isn't much use having a state-of-the-art port if the rail and road linkages to it aren't in place". The state-of-the-art Ennore port in Chennai is a case in point. The port is poorly linked with the highways, with the result that hundreds of lorries carrying containers have to pass through narrow roads, which causes accidents. Besides, the northern part of the city, in which the Ennore port is located, suffers neglect.
Finally, it is futile for the government to have planned a dozen bullet train routes even as the quadrilaterals and diagonals are in need of faster trains. It is, therefore, fervently hoped that the new government will compensate for the lost years by managing the grand integrated transport network along with infrastructure development.
S Subramanyan Navi Mumbai
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