Collector calls for a change

VADODARA, Feb 21: When you have Civil Supplies Minister Jaspal Singh, District Collector Anil Mukim, Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria an...

VADODARA, Feb 21: When you have Civil Supplies Minister Jaspal Singh, District Collector Anil Mukim, Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria and VUDA chairman Krishnakant Shah on the same platform talking about Vadodara in the 21st century, you would expect from them a bagful of promises to revive the city8217;s past glory.

It didn8217;t however, turn out that way. True to his image, Singh gave the local administrators an acerbic tongue-lash, the usually soft-spoken Anil Mukim took no-holds-barred potshots at the administration and the public for their inertia, and Aloria and Shah reeled off a list of problems, future challenges and their efforts for the city8217;s turnaround.

Mukim spoke of the variety of reasons on which Vadodara prided itself, expressing concern that there was little to boast about. 8220;It is very easy to blame everything on the lack of resources and staff, but Vadodara has no dearth of resources; what is lacking in Vadodara today is attitude and approach.8221;

The city, he said, was losing its heritage to industrial growth. 8220;We have industries that are lop-sided, hazardous, dangerous. The city8217;s getting crowded, slums are mushrooming. We have prided ourselves on a rich tradition of arts and culture as well as academics, but we have not been able to create a single new institution for culture or education during the last 20 years. Instead the city is getting polluted, the situation is getting worse,8221; he said.

He spoke of the 8220;pathetic state8221; of the tribal hinterland, on which the State Government 8220;spends a whopping Rs 100 crore8221;. Drinking water had been affected both in terms of quantity and quality; the social and health infrastructure was almost non-existent, he added.

8220;If a revolution has to come, it can happen only in this city. We don8217;t need promises of a great future, we don8217;t need ambitious plans, we only need to lay down eight to 10 guiding principles, postulates. Let us decide: No more chemical industries, no more hazardous industries. Let us have non-polluting industries. Let us make 10 educational and cultural centres. Land is no problem,8221; he said.

Mukim8217;s optimism was in direct counterpoint to Singh8217;s gloomy prognosis. 8220;I see no hope in any sphere of Vadodara. Nobody bothers here, nobody is accountable. Sab kuchh bhagwan bharose chal raha hai; dhirey, dhirey, marte, marte. Vadodara is dying8221;, said the minister, who is in charge of the district.

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Clarifying that he was speaking as a worried citizen and not as minister or MLA, Singh asserted, 8220;Go to the municipal corporation and what do you find, only exchange of expletives and allegations; an atmosphere of carelessness and indecency pervades all over the corporation. I blame the public for putting the wrong people in power, whichever party it is. People should tell them to go if they don8217;t perform. Nobody is interested in talking, people want work.8221;

Singh expressed concern over the increasing number of pigs in the city, which was caused by garbage lying in piles for days without being cleared. 8220;There is dirt everywhere, millions and millions of mosquitoes everywhere,8221; he said.