Commuting to & fro the office in our country
is a painful experience. This is a strenuous task not only for the inhabitants
of the cities but also for the rural. It is a fact that our cities are bursting
at the seams. The public transport system, in whatever way planned, is found to
be grossly inadequate to handle the burden. It takes an average person one and
half hour to go to office and equal time to come back home. A time not only
totally unproductive but also filled with tremendous stress and strain for the
commuter . In Mumbai, one cannot get into the local trains for four hours in
the morning and four in the evening. Apart from residents of that city it is a
nerve wreaking experience for an outsider who does not reside in Mumbai.
Bangaluru and Kolkata traffic are known for their delay in reaching the
destination. For tomorrow's departure one may have to leave home today.Chennai
is somewhat better in the flow of traffic but here too traffic density is very
high and road discipline non-existent. Not to speak of Delhi which is a city of
distances. In rural areas too, many travel from village to village to
reach their place of work.If an average person, whose work demands that
he works for 10 hours a day, spends 3 hours each day for just commuting in a
week comprising of six days unlike some countries with five days in a week work
culture, then one can imagine what societal responsibilities he will be
able to discharge. In my opinion, the time of commuting in a highly chaotic,
polluted, congested atmosphere is responsible for the high levels of
irritability and disease prone ambience. This could be a very significant
contributing factor to the high crime rates and suicides in our society today.
One may argue that people in other a countries too travel long distances
to reach their workplace, but travel there are more comfortable and Strangely no
attention has been paid to this aspect by either the Government, media or the
public welfare organisations.
It is time that some workable policy is
formulated wherein this wastage and damage is minimised.
