The city came to a standstill when it was opened up and it became a part of everyone life even those who never were going to travel on it. There are many who are never going to as the Rs. 50/- one way toll is way beyond a regular middle income Mumbaikar who largely makes up for the city’s spirit. However they were subject to the Sea Links overdose by their elected and selected leaders who endlessly quarreled with fierce sincerity and energy as to who the bridge should be named after!
It is justified to give so much of time and energy to this miracle structure after all it has taken a lot of the fledging finances of the infrastructure starved city…the cost of the bridge shot up to 4 times the original cost and despite that it has not been complete as planned!! The initially planned 4 lanes per direction splendor is today only operational on one side with make shift barricades serving as the divide between two directions of traffic!! One will not find any elaborate mention of this anywhere because it will take away from the moment of joy and celebration that we stressful souls so desperately starve for.
Every government project makes money for its officials and contractors. There is nothing eye brow raising about it…however what I find so amusing and noteworthy is that despite the irregularities and mal practices they still do not deliver the end result as per expectations and promises and still get away with it. Salute to them all! They are personalities that achieve the unthinkable. Unlike idiotic terrorists or robbers who make a spectacle of themselves by killing people and bombarding places, these gentlemen are always silent executioners who suck the city’s blood through such peaceful and slimy means that it makes them artists of excellence and assassins of class.
For instance it was known for a long time that when the traffic from the BWSL will reach the Worli Sea Face, it will lead to traffic snarls because there is no space on the sea face to accommodate traffic this would completely nullify the sea links affectivity. Magicians brush of rabbits and pigeons under the hat or carpet but to brush off the lakhs of concerns and solid reason under the carpet when billions of rupees are at stake is a matter of sheer brilliance!
At the end of it all I am feeling sorry for the Sea Link which stands tall overlooking its own effectiveness and feeling god knows what when it see’s the motorists taking a 1 Km detour round the Worli village to hit the Annie Beasant road making the sea link almost useless. It’s like getting admitted into a sports team with much fanfare and aplomb only to realize that you are not of much use. How would one feel for getting appreciated only for their beauty when their true competence is mean to be their utility? I only hope in this case the Sea Link is mentally as well equipped as the people who managed its building for that’s the only way it can survive its incompetence!!
