Indian cities need to be still more developedThe best cities of India are rated as average when compared with the best cities of the world. Why is it so? Indians keep boasting that Delhi will soon become "the world's most beautiful city" or Mumbai "a global financial hub". But is it possible? There is a law which says that the less you intend to do or are capable of doing something, the more you have to keep talking about it.
Cities like Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata are places of crime, grime and chaos for ordinary citizens. For them these places are not metropolis but miseropolis. Our cities keep bearing the brunt of traumas such as an Uphaar blaze in Delhi or the AMRI inferno in Kolkata. Monsoon downpours paralyse Delhi by waterlogging year after year, much like they turn Mumbai into a familiar cesspool along with its potholed roads and gridlocked traffic. Fires, floods, even terror can benumb any of our cities any time.
Cities in India reflect the country's pathetic governance. It is a sad spectacle of squalor. It' high time the government used taxpayers' money to develop these cities by keeping roads and streets clean, not allow pavements and streets to be overrun by hawkers, squatters, shrines or kiosks and by ensuring smooth functioning of municipal schools and hospitals.
In these cities we witness at many places technical inefficiency, outright waste and rampant corruption. Newly laid roads melt away in weeks while thousands of unauthorized settlements spring up. These sights just make a mockery of governance.
By 2030 the cities of India will home around 590 million people. Is the government prepared for this? It is high time for government to mobilize resources and minimize waste. Simultaneously, the country must radically transform service delivery systems with accountability to citizens.
Municipal administration has typically suffered from overstaffing of untrained, unskilled manpower, on the one hand, and shortage of qualified technical staff and managerial supervisors on the other. More and more services need to be mechanized with more technology being inducted: eg, biotechnology for treatment of wastes, information technology in city planning and service-delivery options, energy saving and clean technologies in urban transport, and low-cost, high-tech materials in building and housing.
Technology could assist cities in common billing and smart card development to enable user charges for access to roads, electricity and water. Citizens in a community could deal with just one office locally regarding all tax matters and payments for utilities.
Along with swift punitive measures for infractions of civil rules, there must be focus on personal hygiene, consciousness of cleanliness and civic responsibilities. The government needs to launch a concerted programme through school curricula and electronic media to educate the masses. Cities would do well to seek assistance from the corporate sector via its corporate social responsibility programmes for development and maintenance of large community parks, archaeological sites, schools, health units, etc.
The task is as stupendous as it is urgent. But it can all be done if no-nonsense competent professionals are in charge.
Cities like Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata are places of crime, grime and chaos for ordinary citizens. For them these places are not metropolis but miseropolis. Our cities keep bearing the brunt of traumas such as an Uphaar blaze in Delhi or the AMRI inferno in Kolkata. Monsoon downpours paralyse Delhi by waterlogging year after year, much like they turn Mumbai into a familiar cesspool along with its potholed roads and gridlocked traffic. Fires, floods, even terror can benumb any of our cities any time.
Cities in India reflect the country's pathetic governance. It is a sad spectacle of squalor. It' high time the government used taxpayers' money to develop these cities by keeping roads and streets clean, not allow pavements and streets to be overrun by hawkers, squatters, shrines or kiosks and by ensuring smooth functioning of municipal schools and hospitals.
In these cities we witness at many places technical inefficiency, outright waste and rampant corruption. Newly laid roads melt away in weeks while thousands of unauthorized settlements spring up. These sights just make a mockery of governance.
By 2030 the cities of India will home around 590 million people. Is the government prepared for this? It is high time for government to mobilize resources and minimize waste. Simultaneously, the country must radically transform service delivery systems with accountability to citizens.
Municipal administration has typically suffered from overstaffing of untrained, unskilled manpower, on the one hand, and shortage of qualified technical staff and managerial supervisors on the other. More and more services need to be mechanized with more technology being inducted: eg, biotechnology for treatment of wastes, information technology in city planning and service-delivery options, energy saving and clean technologies in urban transport, and low-cost, high-tech materials in building and housing.
Technology could assist cities in common billing and smart card development to enable user charges for access to roads, electricity and water. Citizens in a community could deal with just one office locally regarding all tax matters and payments for utilities.
Along with swift punitive measures for infractions of civil rules, there must be focus on personal hygiene, consciousness of cleanliness and civic responsibilities. The government needs to launch a concerted programme through school curricula and electronic media to educate the masses. Cities would do well to seek assistance from the corporate sector via its corporate social responsibility programmes for development and maintenance of large community parks, archaeological sites, schools, health units, etc.
The task is as stupendous as it is urgent. But it can all be done if no-nonsense competent professionals are in charge.
No comments:
Post a Comment