Civically bereft metropolis

The Article 243 W of the Constitution obligates the municipalities in India to undertake urban planning, regulation of land-use and construction of buildings...

The Article 243 W of the Constitution obligates the municipalities in India to undertake urban planning, regulation of land-use and construction of buildings, roads and bridges, water supply, public health, sanitation and solid waste management, public amenities including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences, urban forestry and the protection of environment among other things. In the backdrop of the aforesaid constitutionally assigned duties, let us analyse our very own Ludhiana.nbsp;

Ludhianavis have become accustomed to the jolts and thuds that the ubiquitous bumpy city roads produce while driving swanky sedans. Each monsoon washes away the city roads though contractors are contractually bound to maintain the road for five years after its construction. Very elaborate stringent quality standards for road construction have been laid but who in the Municipal Corporation MC cares whether a road lasts for five years or five days. Only a new construction contract fetches the cut.

Each one of us spends a pretty good time in traffic jams. Less than five years ago, only the old city was jam prone but today the entire city faces the menace, thanks to the miserable town planning by the successive MC bosses, unprofessional traffic management, commercial complexes sans parking space, absence of common parking lots, epidemical encroachments, lack of mass transit system, burgeoning autorickshaws, lack of a policy to control vehicular population.nbsp;

The greedy building mafia in connivance with the corrupt MC babus has caused devastating damage to the ambience and ecology of the city. The rampant Change of Land Use CLU by the always grasping MC and Local Government LG officials have killed the peace and privacy of residential areas.nbsp; The mushrooming unauthorised constructions have already made the city a virtual hell.nbsp;

The poor sanitation and hygiene conditions had recently spelled doom for Ludhianavis causing dengue epidemic. Shockingly, the MC is the biggest violator of the Water Pollution Act, 1974, due to its unlawful practice of discharging untreated municipal waste into the Buddha Nallah. The erratic water supply, sometimes contaminated too, dwindling urban vegetation, lack of municipal solid waste management infrastructure, lack of public toilets, non-working traffic signals, illegal hoardings, illegal roadside slaughter shops, lack of an accountable complaint registration mechanism continue to haunt residents even after 32 years of formation of the Municipal Corporation.nbsp;

The inaction of the MC bosses and their supervisors at the Local Government office has ruined the city. They dared to commit contempt of the citizens because they were sure that they would never be questioned, and if at all questioned would get away by sharing a part of the booty with the investigators.

We have all committed a fraud with posterity. We, the citizens, are equally to be blamed because we have become complacent. We never tried to discharge our duties as responsible citizens by not questioning the public servants, be it government officials or the elected councillors, for their misdeeds.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;

Story continues below this ad

The Ludhiana that can be a model for others is not a distant dream. It is totally realisable. The Right to Information is a turnaround development that has empowered the citizens to realise the true swaraj.

The ball is now in our court. It only requires three or four vigilant incorruptible citizens in every municipal ward, jointly or severally, to keep a vigil in their respective areas as regards sanitation, water supply, street lights, quality of road/civil construction, encroachments, violations of building bylaws, violations of land use, public toilets, attendance by doctors in government dispensaries, attendance by teachers in government schools and the like. The deficiencies or violations observed can be tackled using RTI, advocacy and PIL. The doctrine, of course, is zero tolerance towards corruption and dereliction of duty.nbsp;