Vijay K. Saluja
The Times of India sometime back, printed on its first page the battered & beaten photograph of a blueline bus driver, whose bus was involved in a fatal accident, near Moolchand flyover.
On its third page, was another picture of the grieving wife of the killed youngman & his hapless & crying parents! The news report about this accident described another grim part of the sad story. The father of the bereaved wife had also been involved in the tragic road accident many years back, when the unfortunate wife was a young girl of seven. In that accident, her father had died & her own leg had to be amputated!
Can there be more tragic incident than this? Let us ask ourselves.This accident & the following events, tell another grim tale. Again involvement of a blue-line-Here, I am not commenting anything about, whose fault it could be. But the fact remains, that a tragic accident on Delhi road, involving blue-line has again occured, a young life has been snuffed out, a bread winner, the only son, the father of two young daughters have gone, leaving their awesome burden & the burden of sorrowing old parents, on the shoulders of a traumatized, already handicapped [brave] & sorrowing wife.
The incident also brought out the growing anger of the public & onlookers,who decided to deal with the driver themselves & perhaps battered him black & blue & therefore the picture showed gory face of the driver. A very very sad case of poor governance, right on the road, in almost the heart of the capital of India. I don`t think, policemen, could be far away, from the spot of the accident? What sort of professional satisfaction, persons in the government, who are given the authority to govern, get out of these incidents/accidents?!
Don`t they feel bad, guilty, sad, powerless?If not, then perhaps their conscience is also dead. If it is so, how have they been given the charge of sensitive govt jobs? Why the Government is helpless to effectively deal, as per the law of the land/conduct rules, with them?!
I, saw another gruesome accident a few days back involving a scooterist & a not so , speeding car. It was the fault of none of them. But accident occurred due to embedded manhole, as the said road had been given a fresh overlay, embedding all the manholes. The scooterist skidded on the same , lost balance, was on the ground & hit by the car which was coming ,behind him. Presence of mind of the car driver, made the impact, very little, but the hapless scooterist, had suffered bruises all over, had a fracture & a broken scooter-for no fault of his!?
The car driver for no fault of his & even showing presence of mind ,also, had to suffer an FIR & attendant many hardships, with the police authorities, insurance people etc.
Whose fault it was?
Isn`t it the normal duty of road maintenance/construction authorities to raise the level of embedded manholes & take care of electrical wires etc etc?Isn`t it a regular sight, which all of us, must be observing,wherever a road is resurfaced/repaired?
Why this is not done? Why no responsibility is fixed? Is this proper administration/ maintenance/ project management? What are the concerned authorities proud of?
Only a day back, the papers reported about the death of a young boy due to electrocuting when he fell in the ditch made by some service agencies who forgot to properly cover some naked electrical wires!
Is it professionalism? How about the family who lost their dear child. Can any compensation, compensate their anguish & sorrow?
I, leave this query to ponder over & draw the conclusion? It could have been kin of any one of us? Is the `Smart city` to give these facilities[broken limbs & death], to its hapless/ unfortunate citizens?
Another scenario which one sees on some roads in central Delhi is the performance of very young acrobats & presence of handicapped beggars on the main heavy trafficked road junctions? Why can`t the Administration/Sports/ Social Services Deptt/some NGO`s, take care of these talented young people & provide them with minimum basic needs to survive & train them to be good acrobats, instead of becoming traffic hazards & endangering their lives& lives of others too? What are the traffic policemen doing at that time? Why it can not be prevented/stopped.
Same is the story of young girls /boys, begging in the garb of car cleaners, Saturday alm-askers with some can & flowers!
The list of apathy of some of the members of the concerned authorities, I, am sorry to observe is almost endless. Not to criticize them ,but to stir their conscience.They have authority without accountability-A sad Case Study of irresponsive, irresponsible, insensitive governance which is becoming poorer & poorer, day by day, as the cities are growing & becoming bigger & bigger.?!
But ,it is never late to address this sad situation? The need is the right attitude & sensitive mindsets of the concerned authorities, elected representatives & the community.How to obtain that is not difficult.
So let us all do something on sustainable basis.
Ideas are welcome
GOOD GOVERNANCE IS IN THE INTEREST OF ALL, INCLUDING ALL THOSE WHO ARE GOVERNING!
Writer is
· Ex-Chief Engineer[civil]
· New Delhi Municipal Council
