THE whole city of Nagpur will always express its utmost gratitude to a Division Bench of Bombay High Court at Nagpur for asking the most serious question: Who will serve the taxpayers? The reference was the serious problem of water-logging in Nagpur in general and the two Somalwar schools in Khamla area. When flood waters gushed into the premises of these schools, students and teachers and staff had to be evacuated with the help of ropes etc with much effort. The honourable High Court heard the matter and orally pulled up the Nagpur Municipal Corporation and the Public Works Department for the inefficient public infrastructure. For this no-nonsense question, the city will keep thanking the two honourable judges -- Justice Urmila Joshi-Phalke, and Justice Nivedita Mehta. This question should snap the administration to an alert position.

 

In response, the administration now will have to take matters seriously. ‘The Hitavada’ has been raising the issue of flooding of roads for years. It has often published reports and pictures in an attempt to probe deeper into why things have sunk to such depths in recent years in Nagpur. In this column, too, the loosefooter has been asking serious questions to the administration on several counts. All this questioning by ‘The Hitavada’ is part of its calling of journalism. As part of that, we must -- and we do -- ask questions and seek answers. No matter whether some people like the questioning or not, we raise issues. We can never be silent. “Journalism can never be silent; that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and signs of horror are still in the air.” Thus said Henry Anatole Grunwald, former Editor-in-Chief of ‘Time’ Magazine, and also a former diplomat. This quote has become journalism’s oft-repeated definition. For years, ‘The Hitavada’ has been engaged in serious public service journalism.

 

On issue of public interest, it has asked questions, sought answers, and made the people perched high on power-pyramid uncomfortable. Therefore, when the two honourable judges asked the question, in effect: Who will serve the taxpayers ?, ‘The Hitavada’ felt that the administration would now respond positively. That is our hope. However, there is a problem that the administration cannot solve -- because it has created the problem on its own. Over the past some years, in its quest of converting city roads into cement roads, the administration has made many terrible engineering mistakes, created design disasters, given the city fly-overs that just do not fit in the overall traffic system. And to make matters worse, the adnministration has proved itself to be quite slack in maintenance of public infrastructures such as storm-water drains, or water outlets in public places.

 

At countless places, the designs of intersection-infrastructure is so faulty that a two-hour rain creates pools and pools of water that make vehicular movement difficult. So, how can the administration -- whether the Nagpur Municipal Corporation or the Public Works Department -- respond positively to the question the honourable judges have asked ? For, some issues have already reached the level beyond solution or redemption. The loosefooter, therefore, has one last question: Down which drain has the administration pushed the principle of accountability ? Is there no provision in our system to hold wrong-doers accountable for their mistakes and punish them ? n