Kolkata Korner

Not Bankable

Over the past few days, newspapers here have been full of reports on agents hired by banks and financial institutions employing extra-legal and even blatantly illegal means to recover loans and credit card payments from defaulters. The reports, triggered by the suicide of one person who was being hounded by agents for missing out on a couple of installment payments of a loan he had taken from the State Bank of India, have detailed the modus operandi of the 'recovery agents' and how the banks not only wink at the illegal acts committed by these agents, but even encourage them to do so. Shockingly, it is not only private and multinational banks that break the law; even nationalized banks are equally guilty on this count. Banks and financial institutions cannot plead ignorance that recovery agents threaten, intimidate and verbally and physically abuse not only defaulters, but also their family members. Cases of defaulters or their children being abducted and confined have also appeared. This is not to say that defaulters should be allowed to go scot-free. No way. But there exists a legal mechanism for recovering loans. This mechanism, like the overall justice delivery system, may be slow. But banks and their agents cannot take this excuse to take the law in to their own hands. If they're allowed to do so. What's stopping the family of a murder victimfrom killing the murderers?

Muscle Power

There's a greater danger in this. Police say most of the men hired by recovery agents, or the recovery agents themselves, are small-time criminals, goons and anti-social elements. That's only natural, since the qualities required for such an agent's job is ability to use foul language, flex muscles, intimidate and have no qualms in breaking the law. Law-abiding and decent men can't behave that way and, hence, aren't fit for a recovery agent's job. Now, since the recovery agents-- who're criminals or have a criminal bent of mind anyway -- get sanction and even protection from big entities like nationalized or global banks to break the law, it is only a matter of time before they graduate on to bigger crimes. What the banks are creating thus are monsters and society will ultimately have to pay a heavy price for this. The Kolkata police, by not acting against these recovery agents, are also contributing to this criminalisation. The police may feel that defaulters are in the wrong and need to be disciplined and made to pay up, and it's good that other agencies are taking care of defaulters rather than the overburdened police, but this has very dangerous implications in the long run. Also, I wonder what these banks and financial institutions do with defaulters in developed countries. The number of defaulters, and habitual defaulters at that, is much more in the western countries than in India. Do the banks there dare to threaten, intimidate and abduct them or drive them to committing suicide? Not at all; in those countries, banks (and even the State Bank of India which has a presence there) have to go by the law without any qualification. What's also important is to make a distinction between habitual and intentional defaulters and those who default on payments due to circumstances beyond their control.

Fatal Music

Just the other day, a biker was run over by a bus after he failed to give way to that vehicle. That's because he couldn't hear the speeding bus blasting its horn as it was coming up behind him—the biker was merrily listening to music broadcast by a FM radio channel. Fortunately, he escaped with a few broken bones. Earlier this week, a speeding cab crashed into a stationary truck; the cabbie was too engrossed in filmi music being broadcast by an FM channel to notice the truck until it was too late. Such incidents are on the rise on Kolkata's roads and FM radio is fast emerging as the biggest traffic menace. What most don't know is that it's against traffic rules to listen to any song or programme while driving. There are stiff penalties, but since the cops, overburdened as they are with a host of other more important matters, never enforce these rules, people aren't aware of it. But it's high time regular drives are carried out and motorists who have audio players and radios in their vehicles or on their person are fined and the devices confiscated. The FM channels could also render some public service by cautioning against tuning in while driving; those garrulous RJs could talk some sense for a change and list out the hazards of listening to music or those sick jokes while driving. FM, by the way, has become the acronym for 'fatal music'.

Plastic Pain

Thankfully, enforcement of the ban on plastic bags is on in all seriousness. Vegetable, meat and fish vendors have started following the ban, but it appears many customers aren't happy and refuse to have the meat and fish stuffed into paper bags or pouches made from 'sal' leaves. The vendors complain that many customers have been refusing to buy from them and some vendors have been forced to defy the ban. This speaks of an appalling lack of civic and environmental consciousness. But since Bengalis, or most of them anyway, can't live without their fish, they're slowly coming around to carrying bags to the marketplace like in those days of yore. Hopefully, carrying jute or nylon (jute is preferable here) bags to the market will become a habit once more. Another set of people is protesting the ban on plastic bags—the owners of the units manufacturing these bags and the ones who used to make a living selling them. The West Bengal Plastic Carry Bag Manufacturers' & Merchants' Association is up in arms, claiming that two crore people in the state are dependant on manufacture and sale of plastic bags and would starve to death if the ban is not lifted. The two crore figure would be a gross exaggeration. But there's no denying the fact that a few thousand working in plastic units or engaged in the trade of selling the plastic bags may find themselves out of work. But that's no big deal—they can shift to making and selling paper, jute and nylon bags. While the continuing drive against plastic bags by Kolkata's civic authorities and the police is praiseworthy, this shouldn't lose steam in the days and weeks ahead. These drives should continue for many months till shoppers make it a habit to carry bags to the market and till all units that manufacture plastic bags close down.

Another Ban

Air-horns, from which those ear-piercing blasts emanate, were banned in 1996. That was on paper and didn't stop at least 50 percent of vehicles on Kolkata's roads from fitting these banned devices. Result: a terrible, unhealthy cacophony on our roads. Air horns, it now transpires, is the reason behind traffic cops and motorists becoming partially deaf. Though belatedly, the transport department has woken up to the menace and has decided to crackdown on those selling and using air-horns. Under this 1996 rule in Bengal, motorists whose vehicles are fitted with air horns can be fined up to Rs 1500. And shops selling such devices can have their licences cancelled. That leaves out, quite inexplicably, the manufacturers of air-horns. To root something out, the source has to be tackled and in this case, it is the manufacturers of air horns for whom the stiffest penalties should be reserved. But why, pray, has it taken the authorities eleven long years to wake up to the perils of high-decibel air-horns and decide to implement an existing rule?

Happy Landing

Those who flew in to Kolkata last Wednesday—the day the CITU called a strike—were in for a pleasant surprise. The taxi stand at the airport was empty and there were none of those rapacious cabbies waiting to pounce on passengers and take them for a ride. Instead, gleaming air-conditioned buses were lined up, waiting to ferry them to different points in the city. The ride was smooth and comfortable, much more comfortable than a taxi ride since the buses were also air-conditioned. And the best part was that it cost much less than a taxi—the bus ride from the airport to Tollygunge, for instance, cost just a hundred Rupees while a cabbie would have charged nearly thrice that amount. Yes, air passengers didn't get dropped at their doorsteps, but at points from where they could take rickshaws, autos and even cabs for the short distances to their final destinations. This arrangement beats taking a cab from the airport to the city; and it's a pity that it has been discontinued. There's no reason why air-conditioned buses can't ferry passengers to and from the airport everyday. Not only would passengers be saved harassment by cabbies, plying such buses would also curb pollution since it would mean lesser cabs on the roads. And it would drastically cut down fuel consumption. If, in the process, some exploitative and predatory cabbies go out of business, so be it. The greater good of many and of society in general will have to take precedence over the losses of a few.

Grave Crime

Billboard firms, or outdoor advertising agencies as they call themselves, have been at it for far too long and deserve to be penalized heavily right away. They've cut trees and even poisoned trees to death in order to ensure a clear view of their billboards. A few days ago, one such agency was suspected of chopping down fifty trees that were blocking the view of an illegal hoarding put up by it along VIP Road. Till date, no action has been taken against the agency. This can't go on—the owner of the agency ought to be put behind bars and a very heavy fine imposed on him so that he's financially crippled forever. That'll teach these rascals, who put up huge ugly hoardings wherever they want to with impunity and deface the city, a stern lesson. And why do we need hoardings anyway? All of us see the very same ads that are up on the billboards in newspapers, magazines and on TV. We don't need huge, offensive billboards to entice usto spend more.