Dear Mr. Chief Minister,
I turned 18 about 9 years back and since then I have had the opportunity to vote thrice be it the General Elections or the Karnataka Assembly Elections. I being a relatively new voter and like most other voters in the country did not look at Election Manifestos to decide on who I was going to work. I voted for the party that I thought was best suited for the job at hand. And today, I am a terribly disappointed Citizen especially when I see the state of affairs in my honetown.
I have come to realise that there is no political party in the country that is truthful and Nationalistic. By Nationalistic, I mean a party that believes in development and with a decisive agenda that puts the country's interests before anything else be it internal or external policies. Instead, we are still stuck with Vote bank politics.
Developmental policies in India is based on the importance of a particular region. i.e. a region that enjoys a clout in terms of votes and seats. I unfortunately come from a district that has 2 assembly constituencies and shares the MP seat with the neighbouring district of Mysore. And in that aspect, they fortunes of a political party does not depend on my region. And so, development of this place is not on the priority of any political party.
Its is time that we get our acts together. We as a community have been indifferent to the situation around us. We crib about the roads, the lack of basic infrastructure, the indifferent approach of our representatives, the dying of our culture, the advent of outsiders coupled with the boom in real estate and the influx of tourists. Any wedding, any family function or get together; this is the topic of discussion on all most all occasions besides the coffee prices and labour problems. But, what have we done about it? The answer, NOTHING!!!...
Its time for us to pull up our socks and be heard. There are a lot of pressing issues in regards to Coorg and it will take more than an article to write home about. My grievances is with the basic infrastructure in the "Scotland of India".
Without doubt, Coorg is today one of the fastest growing tourism economies in Karnataka. From one Orange County 10 years back, we today have about 5 high end resorts with another 5 or more on the way. and of course the 200 or more home stays. Yet the roads are pathetic. In some cases, the road seems to be on the map but not on the ground. And this in spite of connectivity being the most important factor for any industry to develop. Unfortunately, the powers to be think otherwise. We do not even have a proper Hospital in the entire district and for any problems we have to rush to the nearest city.
Mr. Chef Minister, now that you are going to be presenting the budget for 2011- 2012; kindly consider we not so important voters and give us what we deserve. We are not asking for a railway line as the Times of India article dated 23rd February 2011 suggested. We do not even need a railway line. Not bad enough, the real estate boom is already dwindling our Natural resources. We do not need a state sponsored catalyst to it. We are asking for good roads. Roads that prescribe to the standard set by your agencies and not few centimeters of tar as is presently being done.
There are a lot of pressing issues that I would like to bring to your notice and that I will do, but first give us the basic stuff that we require...
Signed,
A Frustrated Voter!
