SO, THE completion of the Y-bridge construction project to connect the Kadbi Chowk with Pahalwanshah Dargah and Mominpura has been given a new deadline of March 2027, its first deadline having expired in December 2025. In other words, the project is already six months beyond its original deadline. If the second deadline is sincerely adhered to, then the whole project will get delayed by more than one-and-a-half years. Such is the mode, method and manner of management of civic infrastructure projects in the city. And the problem is that nobody is bothered in the administration.

 

Every now and then, the media keeps reporting delays in project completion and extensions in deadlines granted officially. In several cases, the officials also announce that a said project would cost more than its original price-line. Add to this the extra cost the Government has to bear to correct various design-failures. Also, add to that the overall cost of inconvenience to the general public with numbers of daily users of most such facilities like roads and bridges and fly-overs. So the all-important question: Who is responsible for this -- and what action has the Government taken against the culprits ? And, if no action has been taken, then why? And if no action is to be taken, then why not ? A natural extension of these questions is: Does the Government think that money grows on trees and can be spent in any loose manner ? What about the burden on the average tax-payers ? In the past 2-3 years, ‘The Hitavada’ has reported extensively on all these time and cost over-runs. It also has exposed many a design-failures and disasters. But the administration is not bothered.

 

That is obviously so because there is no punishment for such mistakes -- nay, sins. Sins ? Yes, sins ! These are sins against public. These are sins against public money. These are sins against public trust in the administration. These are sins against the simple principles of scientific project management. These are sins against the core value of basic accountability of public officials to public and the country in a democratic system. IT IS time to accost every elected representative at all levels in Nagpur -- the municipal corporator, the legislators, the ministers, the Chief Minister, the Union Minister. It is time to accost every Government official and every person in the civic administration. We must ask all these gentlemen and ladies whether they should not be morally, legally and constitutionally responsible for these sins.n