SO, THE civic officials who fail to restore dug-up roads as per norms are going to be suspended. This clear directive from Union Minister Mr. Nitin Gadkari (who is also Member of Parliament from Nagpur) has been met with a mix of gratitude and some skepticism from the common people of Nagpur. The loosefooter got a number of calls from ‘The Hitavada’ readers some of whom said that they felt happy that the honourable Minister has made up his mind to take stern action against defaulting officials who fail to restore dug-up roads (under whatever project). But some readers -- in much larger numbers -- were highly skeptical if the administration really had the courage to take such no-nonsense steps (in larger public interest).

 

Their skepticism is quite understandable -- given the overall experience about such issues, at least in Nagpur. For, almost habitually, many, many civic officials take their work lightly, mess things up, cause nuisance and inconvenience to public -- and still get away with all that, with no punishment and therefore no remorse. In the ultimate analysis, everybody is happy, because nobody gets the boot, nobody gets not even a reprimand. In some cases, some officials may get a reprimand, but in sum and substance, that would finally mean that the fellow managed to escape the blow ! However, since Mr. Nitin Gadkari has personally directed the administration to suspend the officials who fail to restore dug up roads, then there is at least a faint hope that there would be some action (whatsoever) and some erring blokes would get the smack. But when the loosefooter expressed this faint hope, a few frank readers (some of whom used to be high-ranking government officials in their career) went to the extent of calling the loosefooter a sentimental fool. “I know, you are interested in poetry. But I really did not know that you take poetry so seriously.

 

Dear friend, the Minister has only talked poetry,” one of the callers said. No matter such skepticism, the loosefooter still hopes and expects some action ! However, the loosefooter has a few points to raise in this connection -- of the honourable Minister’s directive in favour of suspension of erring officials: 1. Will Mr. Gadkari’s directive be extended to officials who make faulty designs of public infrastructures such as fly-overs, or road-intersections, or corner islands at squares, or inappropriate and inadequate drainage ... ? (For, Nagpur has so many examples of all such design disasters for which the city is paying in different terms -- public money through tax, public inconvenience, unmanageable traffic jams etc etc etc). 2. If a design is certified as “wrong” and needs to be corrected, who is going to pay for the correction-charges ? (This question gets prominence in case of design disaster of the southern end of the Sadar fly-over near Kasturchand Park. The correction -- whatever that may mean for different people -- is also going to mess up with the sprawling Kasturchand Park as well, and spoil its beauty and utility forever). 3. When such design disasters take place, then an entire chain of command gets involved -- or should be implicated. For, there is some authority that clears the project in the first place.

 

Then there is some person/agency that makes the survey. Then comes the designing part -- which also has to be certified as appropriate. And then comes the aspect of on-project monitoring from time to time. So, in case some fault or mistake in design is noticed at right time, corrective steps may be taken and effected at a lesser cost. And then comes the final high point -- of the political authority that often claims a near-complete immunity from all such sins of commission and omission. Who will punish them or suspend them or de-elect them ? So, will Mr. Gadkari’s directive be extended to such serious issues as well ? There are innumerable questions to be asked and raised in larger public interest -- about faulty public infrastructure, about incomplete and terribly delayed projects, about the habitual failure of the civic authority to keep the city clean, about its tall claims of encroachment-removal and subsequent failure ... ... about tall promises made and not fulfilled ! Those questions will now wait for a future reference. n