So, last week I had to go to Hampi for some work. I had heard a lot of blah blah on how good the place is and how it is a UNESCO World Heritage site and all that. Quite frankly, it was rather disappointing and I was very irked to see the state in which most of these monuments are in Hampi.
For starters, the monuments have settlements all around them. There are very few monuments that have been preserved the way they need to be and the only reason that one does not find settlements around such places is due to the problems of accessibility. The temple that forms the central part of the ruins, has been spared, but the rest that sprout out in the middle of bustling villages with 200 cows moving around on the approach road.
The place has lousy accessibility. The roads in the region are terrible and bridges that got broken a few years ago have not be constructed since. The road transport infrastructure is a crying shame. If a tourist does visit this place, he/she will not go back happy.
Let me digress slightly here. The area of Karnataka that we are talking is one which probably provides the most amount of revenue to the state coffers. The Bellary-Hospet belt has been indiscriminately exploited by miners (read certain ministers) for the purpose of their personal gains. The activity has been carried out so indiscriminately that every building in the city of Hospet has a tinge or red due to the dust that open cast mining causes. So, one of the most important economic center for the state has the lowest level of infrastructure development. The cities as well as the highways are in the most pathetic conditions. I am told that when Mr. Reddy is about to visit, a road is laid, two days prior to his visit and then, it gets washed away in the matter of days. It is just a stop gap arrangement.
The state of tourism development in the region is at best appalling. Just advertising the place through ad films across the world does not end the responsibilities of the government. It has to make sure that the tourists coming in have ample alternatives for commutation, for resting, for refreshments, etc. Unfortunately, this is lost on the chief minister, he is just too busy spending money printing his **** face on every bus in the state.
When you leave from the city of Hospet towards the Virupaksha Temple, the heart of the ruins, there comes a bridge that connects the ruins to the other side of the Tungabadra River to go to another significant town of Anegundi. The bridge that used to stand on the river broke a few years back. The government never bothered to re-build it.
It is amazing to note such apathy towards a place that is being promoted world-over as a heritage destination.
As I have been travelling across the south, mostly the two state of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; there is a stark dichotomy that I have noticed. Both states have some of the most corrupt politicians who think the government to be their fiefdom. They have been eating the people's money shamelessly. Though, there is one major difference.
I read once, there are two types of dictators; one who realises that in order for him to continue to eat in the future, he must invest back into his country and make it possible for the people to be more productive and ensure that the income of the state can grow; a good example of this is the Middle East. The other kind indulges in continuous plunder, till such time that the resources of the nation are exhausted; this kind is only worried about making sure that he is fed and has no long term plan in mind; a good example of the same being a lot of states in Africa.
Well a very similar dichotomy exists between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The infrastructure and economic stimulus for doing business in Tamil Nadu is very high. They wish to make sure that there is enough economic development to ensure that the politicians can continue to eat public cash in the long run. By comparision, Karnataka is a case of plunder. There is no investment being made back into the state. The representatives of the government wish to just fill up their pockets in whatever little time that they have at the helm of affairs. The present government has created an atmosphere where corporates are already beginning to flee Bangalore and entrepreneurs are resisting setting up further businesses in the state. Given this I have just one question to ask
The Iron ore in Bellary will get exhausted, just as the gold in Kolar did. Then what?
