Civic work needn’t always be an inconvenience

People felicitating Sanjay Bhanushali, the contractor

A report in this paper highlighted the abject frustration of citizens over the lack of interest by civic authorities.

Residents in Bhandup, unable to get the civic body to address their woes on the inconvenience caused by unending road work, decided to vent their ire on the hapless contractor in charge of the job.

They invited him to a felicitation where they presented him with a certificate of delay.

Naming and shaming is never the remedy of choice for anyone. These residents had been enduring the serious hindrance to their everyday movements for the past five months. With a lack of easy access to civic officials to get their woes addressed, the residents decided to get their message across with some passive aggression.

The point is, why push citizens into a situation where they have to resort to unpleasant means of protest? The city is littered with examples of kilometres of roads dug up, maddening diversions and the air heavy with polluting dust particles. This is not something that can be endured unendingly.

Also, it is natural for taxpaying citizens to expect some ease while navigating this always-crowded city. It has been decades since roads - not including the major highways - were an easy drive from end to end.

The authorities concerned - be it BMC, MMRDA or others - need to make people their priority while commissioning work. While the end result will ensure that, the process, too, needs to be carefully planned. Especially in an unplanned city like Mumbai.

While crores are spent on the actual work, a little can be set aside for a workable plan on both achieving the goal as well as ensuring minimal hardship to citizens. Other countries do it. So can we, surely.