|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My son continued, "Papa, I mean what would you do for the common man who is badly affected? On whom would you fix the responsibility?" "It is for the Public Works Department to fix the responsibility and see whose fault is it," I replied, trying to avoid an unnecessary controversy. But my son wouldn’t let it go. "What if you were the Public Works Minister?" I said, "I will order an enquiry. The guilty will be punished." "Guilty who? They may be people from your department who made a substandard bridge." "Maybe the trucker who carried more weight than it is permissible on the bridge. We might recommend cancelling the driver’s licence," I said. My son said, "That won’t help compensate the loss." I said, "Look son, the novel way to raise funds for reconstruction would be to put a ticket for the onlookers. Longer the delay, bigger will be the amount raised." My son said summing up, "Thank god, you are not a minister."
|
||
|
|
||
A
few days ago I saw in a newspaper a photograph of a bridge collapse
near Kullu with a heavy trailer still hanging on the sagging portion
of the bridge. My son asked me, "Papa, if you were the Minister
for Transport what would you do?" "I would prefer travelling
by air than to risk my life on the roads in the rainy season," I
answered sharply.