Let US accept, for the sake of positive argument, that there is no point in opposing the construction of cement roads in Nagpur -- since the authorities are hell bent upon the project, no matter what. Let us, therefore, also accept that there is no point in opposing the attendant parts of road-architecture, like pavements and other accessories that the civic authorities deem fit to build. By the same token, let us also accept that the city requires all the fly-overs, all the bridges, all the public infrastructure that has been under different stages of construction and development over the past few years -- over fifteen years. On this count, thus, may there be no argument whatsoever about the utility of these structures in the city. Yet, this does not solve the actual problem in Nagpur -- to which the loosefooter must draw attention of everybody.

 

The real problem is whether the civic authorities -- or the collective administration encompassing all the agencies -- know that there is something called Project Management as a subject of application of scientific details of things are done or designed or constructed or implemented. The loosefooter has raised this issue previously as well -- asking critical questions. Each time this issue is raised, the people manning high positions in public affairs -- in politics or bureaucracy -- keep their lips tightly shut, almost as if they have chosen to ignore the attempt deliberately. However, ask anybody who knows the science of Project Management, and he or she will stress that that science has been tossed out of the window in the city. This gets explained or supported well by the facts available on the ground -- roads and made and roads are broken for whatever reasons.

 

Fly-overs are constructed, but without any scientific design or method. The media is reporting in clock-like regularity that this or that or that project is going to miss the deadline by months -- for want of this or this or this or that ... ! There are justifications for each mistake and each miss or each mess-up. But there is no punishment whatsoever for those who cause those mess-ups (though of course the Minister directs -- whom ? -- to suspend the officers who leave works half-complete or incomplete). But frankly, can the citizens accept any such lame-duck justification for the sins of commission and omission on the part of the civic authorities ? Ideally, if such justifications are dished out regularly, with no punishment whatsoever to the wrongdoers, then the people will to conclude that the idea of governance is a failed idea in Nagpur. This hurts deeply ! For, there is no greater grief for a citizen in an avowed democracy that the administration is not serious about its duty, about its commitment to public cause, about its own sovereign word, about its own sense of public welfare. When the idea of good governance fails in a civil society, the citizens have nowhere to go. For, a failed governance points to serious flaws in the political and bureaucratic systems.

 

It also demonstrates how casually the issues of public interests are sought to be ignored. So, even if we accept that we need all the development in the city -- cement roads, attendant road-architecture, fly-overs, bridges, plazas -- it is not possible to accept the slackness of the authorities in stages of scientific Project Management. Because of our lapses on this front, the city of Nagpur happens to waste a lot of funds (due to cost and time over-runs). That is also the reason why the people often feel having been left in a lurch by the administration at every step of the way. That is the reason why the city of Nagpur does not give the impression of genuine, real prosperity even though a lot of development is taking place in the city -- sky-scraping buildings at countless places, huge malls, cement roads, other public infrastructures, MetroRail, electric buses, so-called modern airport (with a bigger one in the making). Despite all this development, the city still gives the impression of being a haphazard place where the process of planning has been tossed out of the window. Why ? Let us leave this issue open for public consideration at this stage. n