On malls sealing in Chennai: heads I win tails You lose.
By Latha Mohandoss
My favourite quote of my childhood was “heads I win, tails you lose,” implying that if you agree to this deal, I will anyway win, and the other will anyway lose. Hopefully, I have outgrown such childhood notions--- desires to win at all costs, have my opponent lose at all costs.
It follows that every coin has two sides. Both sides are different. Yes, there are few coins minted by mistake with same emblem on both sides. One such coin was used in Bollywood film Sholay.- the older version with Amitabh, Jaya, Dharam and hema. I donot know about new version. Hence cannot comment on it. And of such coins we shall not speak of for the moment.
But all events both naturally occurring and manmade have two sides which are different, often one side causing or triggering the other side.
When I was class 8, I read a very poignant story. One person X was living abject poverty and misery. He often prayed to God to save him. During one such prayers God sent his most trusted Angel to him. When X opened his eyes after the prayers he felt the shining presence of the Angel. Wonderstruck he looked at her. The Angel said “God in his benevolence has decided to answer your prayer. X was thrilled beyond words and bowed his head. The Angel said “God has granted that whatever you wish shall come to pass. But your next door neighbor will get twice what u get” and disappeared.
X immediate need was a stocked larder, so it came to pass. His neighbor also is fellow traveler in poverty came and said ‘with wonder my larders are full. What stroke of luck”. X was happy that his neighbor who was his all weather friend has also benefitted. He then asked for a well furnished house. His neighbor got two. Thus it went on. X asked for power, position, and wealth. He got them in abundance. But his neighbor got twice as much. Jealousy ate him. After all he got his boon with a lot of prayer and his neighbor got twice as much without any effort on his part.
One fine morning he woke up with a pain in one of his eyes, which he incidentally got without any prayer, and while massaging his eyes he got an idea. He prayed that he may lose one eye. His neighbor came running to his house and screamed “help friend, I have lost two eyes. He then prayed that he may lose one hand, and one leg. His neighbor lost both his hands and legs and fell down like a lump. X heart that was raging within him was now at peace- Partners both in prosperity and in misery.
This story clearly states a lot of human nature. Not only we want the best for us, but that ‘best’ is not good enough if our neighbor has the same ‘best’ or a better ‘best’. So this is two sides of the coin; on one side we want what we want, and on the other side we don’t want our neighbors to have what we want.
Recently on 31st October there was news in Chennai that about 60 odd buildings were found to violate building norms, and were of unauthorized construction, and HC had directed the Chennai corporation to take actions on this without any delay. As per court directives these buildings were sealed.
On one side of this coin is the owners of these big malls like GRT, Saravana stores, Chennai silks etc. Most of these owners hold these businesses either as a proprietary or a closely held partnership business. So the main beneficiaries or stake holders are not the public. Two of the biggest groups of stakeholders are the vendors who sell their goods to these malls and the employees who work there.
The vendors who supply the goods have last a steady source of assured income, but they will look for other new businesses and move on. Some of them may have shrunk the size of business and downsized their business by firing some of their present employees. The major hit is taken by the employees of the mall and its dependent downsized vendors.
Taking cue from the pictures of that were published on 1st, and 2nd November the plight of these employees was miserable. They were living in small houses which had bunk beds lining the walls and may be a locker to keep their valuables, a few possessions, and were living like perpetual travelers off their suitcases, with their families far off. The owners as the employers are referred to in common parlance here in Chrennai provided them with 3 times food, clothing and shelter so that they lived like caged animals. Their freedom was in going outside for work or entertainment or home on the day off, mostly one day a week, that too because of shop and establishment act. Sometimes they worked overtime may be even voluntarily, if the colleagues that they had to relieve were on leave or fell sick. They scrimped and saved to provide meager fares to their far off families. Nobody in their right senses would call these places a home.
That pictures reminded me a lot of the book Roots by Alex Haley, where the black slaves were huddled together in the ship--- only those black slaves were much worse off.
When these shops were sealed off, on the orders of HC, these sources of income, pathetic though the living conditions were, had dried up. It speaks volumes of their conditions that they are willing to slog off year after year under such living conditions, with no relief in sight, for salaries of about rupees 5000 to 10000. For all the pathos and the suffering, these employees are not the other side of the coin.
The other side of the coin is the motley group consisting of officers of doubtful integrity who approved these structures for a price, and the builders who connived with them to build these structures. None of these structures would have been built without approval. The builders, being the people in the field, would definitely know that which is legal, and that which is extralegal. In fact it is these builders who perhaps would have advised the owners about how to circumvent the legal procedures and get approval for additional structures that has resulted in violation of the law. For a price the builders would have named those approving authorities who will find loop holes so as approve these extralegal structures.
Since no builder with professional ethics would build unauthorized structures the builders who have built along with those who have approved should also be penalized. Partners in crime- the owners, builders and approving authority should together to take the losses. The builders have not been named, and no punitive actions are being taken on them. Those who have helped in violating the law, have not only made their money, they have also got scot free.
While HC asked for names of the approving authorizes in the government, the owners are already facing loss of business why should the builders be spared. It would perhaps be in public interest to suspend their licenses to build for at least 2 years.
As recent as 2nd December there was a new in Tamil paper Dina Thanthi that Chennai corporation had identified about 6000 buildings as unauthorized, while I cannot understand this fixation that seems to revolve around 6, it still strengthens my case that the builders get scot free and continue to encourage the dubious owners to break the law.
At least that way builders and owners will learn to respect the law. They will learn that in a democratic set up nobody is above law. This completes both sides of the coin.
