Our inability to resolve recurring problems is more than a bit unsettling. How can it be that we face the same issue year after year, say and observe the same things, suggest the same solutions but manage to show no improvement to the issue every year?
Mumbai : Mumbai is in the midst of one of the worst phases of dust pollution arising out of the numerous road repair works and the extensive laying of optic fibre for 4G. The road works take inordinately long time to complete. The contractor starts the work and then disappears for days. It seems the same contractor takes multiple works and then tries to accomplish everything with minimal expenditure from his side. The 4G work has been quick to complete but the finishing and a lot of leftover and gravel remains at the site, which then gets blown away every time a vehicle passes on it.
COPD, chronic bronchitis, asthma, throat infections and allergies are taking a heavy toll on day to day functioning of Mumbaikars besides those who suffer debilitating afflictions. Indian cities have out beaten Chinese ones to now record worst air quality in the world. But people seem okay about this.
Our inability to resolve recurring problems is more than a bit unsettling. How can it be that we face the same issue year after year, say and observe the same things, suggest the same solutions but manage to show no improvement to the issue every year? In my opinion the way to improvement will need the following two changes. Firstly people are just far too tolerant of all the kind of nonsense that the municipal corporation heaps on them. There needs to be a clear demand from citizens for better air quality.
Secondly this whole L1 (Lowest one) system of tenders really needs to go. It is an archaic practice and it is the job of the councillors to bring in better processes unless they are benefiting from the current processes. Contractors bid the lowest and then correspondingly deliver the lowest; all this while we are a wealthy municipal corporation. There is a need for Work Area Management guidelines for all infrastructure and civil works in the MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region). Improved tenders would reward contractors who follow the guidelines and punish those who violate. This should top the list for a Smart City Mumbai agenda.
But this change is dependent on the first one. Unless people complain and make a noise there is a likely possibility that the existing situation will prevail for a long time to come. India’s most productive city with the hardest working people in the country deserves better attention to issues of public health from the people themselves and the elected representatives.
(The author is an environmental activist and Research Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai)
Rishi Aggarwal
