Politicians need to act, not enact farce

wonders will never cease. they come thick and fast. there came a press report accompanied by photographs of chief minister and other socialites holding in hand a plastic bag of garbage on a mission to clean up the yamuna. the farce has been enacted umpteen times for routine and elementary civic tasks. many a time, the president and the pm have been photographed on the streets of delhi, broom in hand.it is not laughable, is is pitiable. the continuing sham and hypocrisy breeds cynicism. the citizenry does remember an mp of delhi having gone on on cereal fast to improve the water and power supply of delhi. but alas, he was persuaded to break his fast before the water and power situation could improve. the people also recall another wonder that followed in the shape of a photograph of the then chief minister of delhi perched precariously on a scooter — sans helmet. he promptly volunteered to pay a fine for an intentional breach of law, with a lot of posing before the camera. this was followed by another stunt by a chief minister who promised to resign if the deteriorating law and order situation failed to improve within 30 days. the question that needs to be answered is why things could not improve within the stipulated time. and so it goes on. every few days the papers showcase a new conjuring trick, by the powers that be. if gimmickry could solve the problems, delhi by now would have turned into a happy oasis of a state. the delivery of services is done by the technically inefficient with gross dereliction, outright waste and, of course, ubiquity of graft. the cancer of corruption has played havoc. corruption begets unsafe buildings,bridges, water and air, and the negligent, cynical government officials. inspectors do not inspect, they only extort. the road department paves a road. two weeks later, the electricity department digs it up. a month later, it is the turn of the telephone authorities to follow suit. the stinking garbage removed from the drains is piled up alongside. sometimes, it is removed a few days later, often to be pushed back in, leaving the drains clogged again. what is planned is often not implemented, what is implemented is often not planned. the delhi citizenry has put up with unkempt and filthy colonies, stench emanating from garbage, sewers mixed with water mains, drains which are constantly clogged, vagrant cattle on roads full of craters, municipal schools and hospitals in a constant state of decay, encroachments of streets and pavements and the people's sensitivities numbed by the endemic apathy as much as arrogance of the powers that be. the hallowed yamuna gets dirtier by the day. the city takes a pledge to go green, but the rape of the ridge does not not stir its conscience. delhi is sought to be made a tourist attraction replete with musical fountains, parks and casinos, but elementary sanitation cannot be ensured, beggars and touts cannot be kept away. thousands of unauthorised settlements and buildings spring up every summer, all to be regularised sooner or later. delhi gains some quarter of a million people each year. around 40 per cent of delhi's population add 3,000 tons of pollutants to the environment every day. the number of jhuggis which stood at 12,000 in 1951, now number half a million. all this does not arise from a paucity of funds and resources — it is more due to the inefficiency of the gargantuan administrative apparatus. the obnoxious nexus of the state functionaries with the corrupt wheeler-dealers is more pernicious than anywhere else. the need is there for people and government to act, not to enact a farce. what little sanity is wrought by judiciary in the otherwise callous bureaucracy is stoutly resisted by politicians and other vested interests. whereas the nation's capital has languished, other cities and towns have shown the way out. the city of surat which was once under the grip of plague has shown how to tackle civic issues. every senior official there under s r rao had to spend five hours in the field of which half the time had to be in the slums, working in heat and dust, grime and filth. that alone demonstrated a team spirit and camaraderie. like in surat, the initiative in calcutta paid off. drains were cleared, garbage removed, roads repaired, encroachments cleared and hawkers moved away. now the congress government, as much as for the former bjp predecessor, the drubbing that the electorate gave it at the hustings should have served as a brief wake-up call. the bjp forfeited the trust and confidence of the delhi voters who found the government as inept, incompetent and avaricious as their predecessors. they felt betrayed. it was not merely a tale of onions and potatoes, it was a sad story of gross mis-governance and familiar squabbles. one is reminded of the 'law of inverse relevance' observed by sir humphrey appleby in the celebrated bbc serial yes minister according to which the less you intend to do or you are capable of doing, the more you have to keep talking about it, in words as much as in pictures.