AT long last, the civic authority in the city has found time and inclination to think of an integrated way of handling all infrastructure tasks alongside roads. They are now talking of a plan that would fuse all utilities in single ducts along or across the roads -- so that repeated digging of roads is avoided. If the loosefooter remembers right, such a talk was doing the rounds of the civic circles a few years ago as well. At that time also, the newspapers had written big headlines on the proposed integrated plan for making of roads and pavements and intersections and plazas. At that time, the newspapers gloated over the great idea that would turn Nagpur into a city managed on modern lines. Yet, all the tall talk at that time did not materialise at all.

 

The authorities kept digging roads once those were made with much money and effort and time. So, the current announcement of such an integrated approach sounds rather plastic. No matter that, we must welcome such a plan. For, if implemented fully and sincerely, it can really change the face of Nagpur completely and make usage of roads a better experience. For, currently, walking or riding or driving on the roads is not a continuously pleasurable experience since the people have to counter unexpected digging and disturbance in the smooth flow of traffic. So, we may pin some hopes on the proposed integrated network plan that would converge all utilities in single ducts. The civic officer who talked of such a plan also drew attention to how the civic authority proposed to make footpaths etc livelier. What that actually meant would be known only later.

 

However, the people do see a lot of civil work going on on the footpaths etc. Some footpaths have been made broader than one would imagine. In most places, however, it must be mentioned without fail that the repair or redesigning work on footpaths is taking an interminable time. In some places, the redesigning of footpaths or intersections or corner-islands has taken more than six months. If this is going to be the pace of work, then the citizens could draw no comfort from the changed design and its implementation. The people also wonder if all the redesigned roads and pavements and intersections etc will be able to tackle the excessive rainfall that often sends the city reeling under floods -- a phenomenon the city had not seen say about 25-30 years ago. The real issue is not about the thought of an integrated network plan for road engineering.

 

It is about the thoughtless manner in which the civic authorities appear to be handling the great task. The subject of project management is a matter of science, so to say. It has its own protocols and its own rules and laws. On this front, the civic authority in Nagpur appears to have failed miserably. This is an opinion of experts as well as of common people. Most of them concur that the city’s so-called modernisation plan has not even gotten off to a good start. This is one question that the civic authorities will have to answer in just a few months when the city goes to civic polls. n