Paying the price of Neglect

I am often amused by the way our government institutions work or rather, doesn’t work. There is not a single day of the week, without newspapers, magazines and news channels lambasting one government body or another for their shortcomings. Be it bad roads, chopped trees, overflowing sewers or traffic jams, there seems to be no ending to our day to day problems.

It’s not that private sector is the epitome of efficiency, but as is often the case, citizens often encounter government agencies as they go about their daily humdrum. Take traffic, our biggest bugbear and often written and spoken out the most. The prime reason for chaos on roads is lack of foresight and planning. Everything in our country and more so in the twin cities is characterized by adhocism.

Road widening is done only at the last minute when no other solution is available. And finally when the road widening is complete, the electricity poles are left standing in the middle of the road. Same is the case with water pipelines, cable laying and other works.

Why? One department does not bother to inform the other department about what they are doing. The result is a hapless citizen who has to face the brunt of running his vehicle onto an electricity pole on a dimly lit road or falling into a pit dug by the Water works department.

Numerous people have lost their lives due to this attitude of our civic authorities - that extends from sheer negligence to wanton acts. Same goes for every other department including Water Works, Railways, Traffic Police, Municipal authorities, Electricity, the list goes on…. Why is there no accountability in the system ? Why do government employees think that they can get away with anything ? Why, we the people are so aphetic to fighting against these evils ?

I for one keep calling up Traffic Police Commissioner, the GHMC Commissioner and other officials if something is amiss. It often works, and one can see action taken to the issues I have raised. My wife calls me mad, and says there is no point in one individual fighting against a corrupt, non-working system. She is true to an extent, and I am often appalled by the lack of civic consciousness amongst our citizens.

Why cannot more and more people keep calling the authorities and sign up petitions in the courts against the slipshod work done by government departments ? Instead, we have the habit of criticizing everything sitting in the comfort of our drawing rooms. We have no right to ask for our rights, if we don’t fight for our rights. Come on, Wake up. Do Something.