Wish our people had all this: Housing and bus system in Europe...
“Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”
European
countries are known as social welfare states. It means the State is responsible
for providing to all of its citizens work, housing, medical facility and
education. Let us talk about a few items
only. These are housing, power and water supply.
Anybody
living in Holland or in any other European country is provided with housing
whether he works or not. If he does not have work, he gets social support which
is equivalent to the minimum salary of an employee. In addition, he gets
medical assistance and for housing he gets extra support called Toeslag.
In
European countries, houses are generally built by government agencies or
private companies. But the blue print of the building has to be according to
the Master Plan laid down by the government agencies. Residential houses are
usually uniform and in a single row. Normally houses are 7x11 meters and the
size of the house will be according to the ratio of the members of the family.
For a single person, a bed room, drawing and bath room set will be provided. If
a couple has one child, it will get two bedroom set. A couple with two kids
will get three bedroom set. However, if anybody has higher earning, he can give
a proof of his earning and can modify the house according to his choice.
Anybody intending to have his own house will have to get space in only such
localities as have the type of houses he wants for himself. In any case, houses
are built by only such companies as are registered with the government.
The
tradition of joint family has broken in modern times. When a boy or a girl is
of 18 years of age, he or she can get his name registered in any municipal
jurisdiction for having an independent house. Not everybody separates from
parents after attaining the age of eighteen. Separation or no separation
depends on the nature of relationship between the progeny and the parents. If
the children have to study in another city they take a house there or live in
hostels.
But
invariably a boy or a girl has a private house after marriage. Boys and girls
themselves decide about their marriage. Both families join the wedding
function. Both families jointly bear the expenses of the wedding feast. Dowry
is unknown to them though, of course, parents may offer a ring or some money
out of their free will. When a couple is engaged and goes in for a house, their
relatives ask them what are their needs to make the house comfortable and they
make a presentation of such things as are needed by the newly wed couple. In
this way, making of a new house is not any burden on one man. Boy and girl put a ring in the finger of the
partner and then either get their marriage registered in the office of marriage
bureau or they go to the church to perform marriage ceremony. Since relatives
live separately and are not partners in each other’s earning, relationship is
usually very warm and smooth. It is different from our system in which parents
or parents-in-law are often abused and cursed. Our relationships become so
boring that these remain restricted to only two occasions, viz. any marriage
feast or condolence on some death.
A
house is provided with all necessary facilities like electricity, water, gas
and heating system. But one has to pay for these facilities. Meter for water
consumption, power consumption and gas consumption is already installed inside
the hose. Water and other service bills are charged according to the
consumption. People consume water with much care. To conserve power, only such
bulb will be on as is needed. It is not like our system that street light is on
for the whole day. Everything goes according to an established system. Anybody
going out of his room will put off the light. All these services are utilized
only according to need.
There
is no question of extravagance in any case. There is no sense of comparison or
show off or jealousy. We Asians are surprised to find that these people have
almost cast aside the sense of jealousy. But of course they encourage
competition. Your near and close relative may be a millionaire or a pauper.
Nobody pays any attention to it. Everybody is equal before law. If you go to
government offices, shops and private outlets, you have to wait for your turn.
Except
in case of emergency, one needs to make an appointment with a doctor before
hand. If you are charged a hundred Euros per month as electricity fee, your
total annual bill will be checked at the end of the year. If it is found that
during one year you have not consumed power to the tune of 1200 Euros, the
extra charged from you will be refunded. For the next year, you will get the
electric bill according to the rate that you have paid in the previous year.
Electric power consumption meter will not be checked every month. Only yearly
checking will be done and calculations will be made accordingly. Unlike our country, don’t expect a functionary
of electric power supply giving you clues of how to pilfer the electric power
meter. All electric wires are connected underground with the power grid.
Therefore there is no chance of putting a hook on the open transmission line
meaning to steal power. Nor do you need
to lift the hook early in the morning before you head towards the mosque to
offer prayers.
They
have made excellent arrangement of keeping homes warm in cold season. One may
be poor or rich arrangement is uniform for making homes warm. This system can
be either through electricity or through gas. If there is electric heating
system, the bill comes along with electricity bill. People cooperate with the
municipal committees in the matter of cleanliness. Annual bills have to be paid
for cleaning the garbage. People of any denomination, rich or poor, without any
discrimination enjoy the right to the use of utility services. In our country
votes are demanded on promise of providing electricity and water. Yet we call
the Europeans as “kafir” or infidels.
People
generally rent houses. Nobody can turn a tenant out unless he himself vacates a
house. If you fail to pay rent for three months, the municipal committee will
issue a show cause notice. If the reason for default is genuine, it will help
you in making payment in installments. Otherwise, the defaulter will be dragged
to a court of law. Those who buy their own houses, incur two kinds of loans
from the bank. One is to pay monthly rent on the principal amount of loan. But
the amount of loan remains in tact. The house buyer is in happy condition only
if the price of the house increases. He may sell the house to the owner and
then liquidate the bank loan, retaining the amount of profit for himself. This
can be a risky deal. Prices of residential houses may fall. People with good
income distribute bank loans into two parts. They pay the monthly interest and
also the amount of the loan in installments. That is why mostly people live in
rented houses or pay the full cost of the house.
Indians
and Pakistanis who have black money, credit it to the account of a relative or
a friend in Dubai or in some other country and then ask him to remit it to
their own account as loan. In this way they pay half of the cost of the house.
Even if a house is on rent, property tax bill comes every year. A tenant has to
pay only half of the tax the other half is paid by the company.
People
consider Europe full of means. But adopt the escape route by saying that we are
poor and unable to have as many means. Actually it is a matter of discipline.
Do you utilize means in accordance with a clear cut plan or not? Do you make
the law before which all are equals? Do you intend to eradicate corruption in
society.
Farooq
Abdullah has been living in Europe for many years. Omar was born in Europe. But
neither of the two have lea rant anything from European system. They have not
tried to understand the social system of Europe. They did not try to change any
of the departments even to the nadir of one per cent. During 20 or 25 years of
power in J&K, they have not been able to change the transport system in the
State. Their party men have grabbed lands illegally. We wish they had changed
the transport and educational system so that people would say some change has
taken place. Leave aside improvement of housing, power, water supply and gas.
The leadership befools masses of people in the name of water, roads and
schools. They asked votes in 2008 elections for water and roads. But even today
seven years later, our sisters and mothers carry pitchers of fresh water on
their heads and cover a distance of two to three kilometers to fetch in home.
Bus
system
Yesterday
as I was readying to visit the doctor, my son gave me fresh information about
the new ticket system for bus commuters. He told me about the bus number. He
also handed me a plastic card. A few
minutes later I boarded the bus and displayed the plastic card in front of a
computer screen. The screen showed the sign of Happy Journey. Inside the bus
there was no feeling of cold and frost. It was pleasantly warm. The name of the
bus stop is announced just seconds before the bus arrives at a station. Anybody desiring to get down at a particular
stop presses the button and the bus stops. Before getting down you again
display the plastic card before the screen which gives you the amount of fare.
So you pay only for the length of the travel you have made. There is no
conductor to yell at you and there is nothing of noise like stop or go. The
driver drives the bus and stops the bus when a button is pressed at a station.
He opens or closes the door by pressing a button on his right side. There is no
question of a bus getting delayed. But if there is any fault, regular
announcement is made on the bus stops from the computer screened put up there.
There will not be a single commuter more than the prescribed number of
commuters for the bus.
Compare
this with the bus system in our country. Only after returning from Europe, one
understands the epithet that “man is the best creation of God”. In India and in J&K, human beings are
treated like cattle. If we are to have anything to do with the police or
administration, they turn human beings into stray dogs. If dogs are treated
badly, at least there is Menka Gandhi to protest against it. But there is none
like her to protest against bestial treatment with human beings.
New
government is in the making in J&K. One would like to know if it has any
programme of infusing a sense of change by changing the system of buses and bus
stops. Here are some suggestions:
- Have a bus stop after every one kilometer. A bus should not stop at any place other than the indicated bus stop. In case of violation heavy fine should be imposed on the bus driver.
- All buses aged more than 25 years should be scrapped. This rule exists but is not implemented just because the bus owners are police officers or politicians or the henchmen of political bigwigs.
- The transport department should not be allowed to become beneficial for the traffic police. Not only the general public but even some of the disgruntled functionaries of the traffic department openly say that they are helpless because they are obliged to grease the palms of high ups in the department failing which they have to suffer their wrath.
I forgot to mention one particular
thing. In European countries, VIPs usually travel in buses. The reason is that
on highways there is always great rush and jam. But the bus runs on the
specific track that is reserved for it on which ambulances and police vehicle
also ply. People prefer to travel by buses and trains because travelling by
cars is expensive. Buses and trains are more comfort giving and keep strictly
to the time schedule.
This article was published in various Indian, Pakistani and Kashmiri newspapers.
