MOVE to any area of Nagpur, and you will come across scores of people who have serious complaints or issues with cement roads under construction for endless periods of time. If it is not cement roads as a point of complaint, issues such as manholes without covers or broken covers or road construction materials having been left at critical road turning points or incomplete public works dominate the public conversation in the State’s Second Capital. And this has been happening for the past ten-plus years. The city appears to be under remaking all the time -- with dug-up places all over, everywhere. There may not be even 10 percent people who feel truly happy about being in the city -- no matter their innate love and pride for their very own beloved Nagpur.

 

When a city experiences such a condition for a time as long as a decade, then the people conclude that there is a very serious problem of values with the leadership -- political and bureaucratic. Add also to this list the city’s public and cultural leadership’s apathy, and the dirty picture is complete. This pack of people in leadership positions in different domains appears least bothered about the terrible and continued inconvenience the common people have to endure for long, seemingly endless periods of time. As people travel on different roads in the city for their own reasons, nobody is sure if the road ahead is in usable condition or is blocked, thanks to the ongoing construction projects. On most occasions, there is no advanced notice to the people that the road ahead is blocked for whatever reason. So, countless numbers of people get choked in narrow spots on roads and have to weave their way out from the mess at the expense of much time and inconvenience to one and all. There is no guarantee if the road ahead is not blocked for whatever reason. Obviously, the people in civic administration do not feel it to be their moral as well as legal responsibility to keep the public well informed about construction activity at different spots.

 

If this is what is taught in civic administration science, then possibly the country does not require such a subject to be included in education in first place. What stuns the common public is the temerity with which the people in political or civic power treat this public convenience. They appear never to be bothered about inconvenience to the public at all. If a common man approaches these people in political and civic power, he is generally told to bear with the inconvenience saying “such things are bound to happen”. This temerity, this casualness, this unmindfulness! In fact, the people in whatever sector of authority and power should feel a sense of shame for such an attitude of theirs. Much to the contrary, they know how to shrug their shoulders and indicate to the common people to get lost -- though metaphorically. Occasionally, however, the people in power give an open expression to their casualness to the public inconvenience. For example, the people in a West Nagpur area learned some months ago that the civic administration was to start constructing a cement road cutting across their locality.

 

This particular neighbourhood is a happy place with common public generally content with whatever they have. They realised that the cement road would cause much inconvenience of different sorts to all of them. So, they approached the administration to give up the project. Thankfully, that was the time just before the implementation of Model Code of Conduct due to Lok Sabha elections. So, the road project did not get off to a start. However, the moment the Model Code was lifted, the project got started. The people again approached a political leader of sorts urging him to stall the project. The man, in his supreme wisdom, said, in effect, that if he or his Government or the civic administration listened to such complaints, then no development would take place. In other words, ‘get lost’. This neighbourhood now stands subjected to great inconvenience, thanks to the disruption not just due to road-construction but also due to slush everywhere. This neighbourhood also has a public park. The civic administration has dug multiple pits for construction of water drainage points, and has left areas around those spots in a haphazard manner, with mud piles and pits -- all in the name of development. This is the loosefooter’s pick this week. n