And, here's another glaring example of how the government gets so carried away with its grandiose plans that end up having no connection, so to speak, with ground reality. The Rs 1 lakh crore Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed bullet train corridor is one such glaring example. If it had only done its homework before embarking on the project, it would have realised its futility.

A Right To Information query on the regular Mumbai-Ahmedabad train route threw up some startling figures - as many as 40 per cent of the seats had gone empty this year between July and September. So, how in the world are the railways expecting to fill the bullet train? Packing it with officials? But none of them are likely to take the train, bullet or not. This is not the first or the last of the useless utilities. There are countless examples of precious public money wasted on such 'amenities'. Mumbai is riddled with them. The monorail route - Wadala to Chembur - is losing R8.5lakh every single day. A survey before embarking on this project would have shown why. That's Rs 1,100 crore down the proverbial drain.