Aug 26, 2004 01:30 PM
2598 Views
(Updated Aug 26, 2004 01:39 PM)
The clouds were dark and it had been raining for quite some time. The children were playing in the water puddles besides the road, of course the road had no footpaths. The gutters besides the road was overflowing and spilling itself onto the street. The side stalls were struggling to sell their wares under the umbrellas amidst pouring rains. The roads had huge cracks and craters, perhaps the aftermath of a war which was still going on, I thought. Driving on such roads would be impossible, reminded me of Beirut or Baghdad or even Kabul. Survival was getting tough in such circumstances .... A huge blaring horn woke me up and I realised I was in amchi Mumbai standing on the SV road at Andheri (W) and not in some worn-torn zone bombarded by USA but the similarities were glaring on my face, stark and humorous perhaps.
Ofcourse there are no dead bodies yet on the roads but do we have to wait for them !! Its a wake up call for BMC ...Do something or we will.
Who wants the maximum bonus during Diwali - BMC
Who will go on strike if they are not happy with the Bonus - BMC
Who are supposed to keep your Garbage cleared - BMC
Who is to take care of potholes (not literally) - BMC
Responsibilites of BMC
The Municipal Corporation is responsible for sanitation and health. In this connection it manages garbage collection, sewerage, public hospitals and the water supply. It is also responsible for setting up and enforcing building norms and for maintaining and repairing roads.
Most of you are aware of the state of roads in Mumbai - yeah I know what roads? is the next question !! Huge craters, gutters overflowing & nothing happening - this is after BMC says we have taken all precautions for monsoons (What happens if they had not?).
Year after year we face the same problem and get the same replies - why does this not happen on the roads of Singapore or Malaysia - they also have heavy rains !! Well money is not the issue then is it the quality?
The reality is the corruption rooted deep down in BMC. The contract is handed out to private builders who pour money into the coffers of BMC individuals - but even the contractor has to make money and also needs the contract to come up every year. The end result is the sub-standard roads which dutifully get spoilt every year
China had a few 100 kms of highways 25 years back, now it is the country having the 2nd largest highways in the world after US. Yeah they shot their corrupt government officials.
What about cleanliness being next to Godliness ... Piles of garbage is found everywhere especially just before a blackmail(Strike). A (graduate) sweeper gets 7500 bucks!! and he outsources(here also!!) the job to someone else for a paltry 1500-2000 bucks who does not do the work. Not to mention the mullah these guys rake in doing all dirty work in BMC from passing files to getting sanctions to builders or usurping land of innocents !!
Every where these bastaaaards control ... the richest Muncipal Corporation of India and keep on feeding their blackhole like stomachs. The common man suffers - the common man who does not travel on flyovers (BEST buses do not use flyovers) suffers the most. I can imagine the ordeal pregnant women or the senior citizens go thru when commuting - all we can do is sympathise.
Are we to blame? Have we become Napunsak / Eunuchs (No intention of degrading those poor souls who are already robbed of their livelihood) perhaps we are worse. We go thru the blatant suffering day-in and day-out on the roads, in the buses, in the trains etc like chickens packed in trucks sent to broilers - and yet we endure WHY?
If we have to rise above the daily drudgeries of life to focus on other issues first we have to deal with local muncipal corporations country wide. They are the ones who are supposed to maintain our basic infrastructure, maintain them in running condition to be specific.
Shoot these bastaaards - kill them who play with the government money (so does the government but then that will be a different review), our hard earned money. The corrupt government BMC officials who backstab their motherland every day of their lives should be given only one chance for explanation and then shot not hanged .. as we might fall short of nooses but not of bullets.
I know there are going to be many who think that such action is uncalled for or is an extreme reaction - well all I will say is come back to this review after every 5 years for next 50 years and you will find things would have hardly changed except perhaps for the rich who use flyovers.
If we mellow down then they resort to blackmail - remember the last strike a couple of weeks back when we all had yellow water to drink ....What about the status of our public hospitals - the rich and politicians go to the likes of Apollo hospitals ..I can go on and on ...but Shooting them is the only option if we want to progress in 2-3 decades.
Share your views MSians ....
