SO, THE Union Minister received as many as 840 complaints about the Nagpur Improvements Trust (NIT) and the Nagpur Metropolitan Regional Developmental Authority (NMRDA) -- at his ‘Janata Darbar’. And a few days earlier, people had thronged around him to present to him as many as 1,500 complaints about the civic issues such as bad roads and water-logging in the city, at the first ‘Janata Darbar’. The people’s throngs were so thick and sticky that the security formed a cordon around the Union Minister at the first ‘Janata Darbar’.

 

It is good to note that the people are waking up and accosting even the Union Minister seeking early justice and solution to their problems. Even the honourable Deputy Chief Minister, too, experiences such an eruption of popular emotion on many occasions whenever he finds time -- and inclination -- to accept people’s views and grievances. Seen together, all these experiences of the two leaders give an impression of an unhappy city -- on countless counts, so to say. Of course, the loosefooter would never want to make any capital out of these happenings small and big. For, he realises out of his experience of watching public life for well over fifty years from the sidelines and occasional close quarters that in a city of Nagpur’s size, complaints of different kinds are bound to crop up. However, in Nagpur, the nature of civic complaints have a pattern -- that points to the general failure of the process of civic management. The overall experience shows that most of the complaints that arise in Nagpur point fingers to leadership incompetence stemming from a casual approach to handling civic issues.

 

One of the most critical incompetencies of the leadership is as regards the wrong urban design in public infrastructure invariably leading to water-logging or traffic snarl-ups or rush-hour congestions due to design fault and failed management. Countless complaints about civic issues also point to an insensitive approach to the problems people face. The common people in the city’s streets tend to feel that the political and civic leaderships of Nagpur are particularly insensitive towards some obvious issues that have clear solutions. But because the leadership does not see the issues from that angle, the problems persist. The justification of so many complaints in the ‘Janata Darbar’, therefore, can be found in that leadership failure. Yet, there is a bright area in the city’s overall eco-system: The people still feel that the Union Minister may still take their complaints seriously. This is a plus point about both -- the Union Minister and the people. That is one matter of celebration - - around Independence Day.