Recently our honourable Chief Minster, Mr. Omar Abdullah, did a distinct thing. He ordered that his electricity be cut and brought at par with the common people. This is a good gesture the Chief Minister has shown. For this, he got many accolades. It is also to remind that earlier Chief Minister had gone to transport office at Jammu personally to get his driving license updated and renewed. For all reasons such behaviour is worth appreciating, provided these signs are not exercised to attract the media only.
It should have been compulsory for all MLCs, MLAs and the ministers to undergo the training of experiencing and feeling the pain and the problems of the common people. If the ministers and others would have the feeling, knowledge and experience of the problems which the common man is facing in day-to-day life the miseries of the common man would have lessened. But the problem is that when a man achieves heights and sits in the higher cabins he forgets the ground beneath his feet.
Now Omar Abdullah must or should know that from the early rise until going to bed how many problems the common man faces. He takes tea but the milk is adulterated. He takes bread but the flour got from the ration depots is not pure. He goes to office but has to stand in overcrowded busses. If he has his own vehicle he has to waste hours in traffic jams. To beat the biting cold or scathing heat he cannot have heaters or ACs because the power tariff is too high to afford. Even if he affords there are frequent power cuts. Even water tax which was Rs300 last year has gone to Rs800, more than the double. He has to remain in long queues for paying electric bills, telephone bills and to get the ration. God forbid if he is sick he has to pay huge fee to the doctor on which government has no control. The expenditure of nursing homes is beyond his reach. He cannot go to the government hospital because there is no infrastructure otherwise the government would have been able to ban the private practice of the doctors. Then there is admission problem and the huge admission fee of the children. He is reluctant to get the admission in the government schools because they show poor performance despite having the qualified teachers in comparison to private schools.
Common man has also to coup up with the prices of the essential commodities which have touched skies. Now, for the employees, sixth pay commission was a relief but they have to get the arrears in five installments putting them in great pressure while as recently the arrears of MLAs and MLCs were announced in a different mode.  A common man has also to put his life at risk because of untrained and negligent drivers. He leaves home but is not sure whether he will come back safely or not. There is also a security threat. 
In short, a common man has to face tremendous problems in his day-to-day life which our Chief Minister doesn’t face and cannot even appreciate. And if he has understood the pain and problems of the common populace due to power cut in the valley he has also to look after other problems as well. Can he afford to live like a common man and face like common people 24*7 round the year?

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Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 IST