Can a road on which Rs 15 crore was spent to asphalt, beautify and illuminate it, begin to show signs of decay just 18 months later? To get the answer to that question one has to go no further than travel the highway linking Varunapuri to Verna and see for one self. In the run-up to the BRICS Summit in Goa held in October 2016, this stretch of the road got a major facelift out of the taxpayers money, but a year and a half later, the maintenance of the stretch raises a number of questions. The streetlights are fused, there is cattle grazing on the greenery of the median and there appears to be nobody bothered to deal with it.
The work was taken up by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which now told Herald that they will be renewing the maintenance contract of Rs 9 crore, which will ensure that the stretch of the highway does not fall into neglect. But NHAI also said that it needs the support of the panchayats to handle the cattle menace, as without this support all efforts at maintenance will be futile. There is, however, a fear among the people that the lack of maintenance will lead to this stretch of the highway returning to its old form of being unlit and unaesthetic. This highway is one that almost every vehicle exiting the airport takes for at least a small stretch, whether travelling north or south, and for that reason also needs to be maintained.
This is just an example of how government projects in the State that are undertaken hastily often fall apart just as quickly. This stretch of the road was rushed through for the BRICS Summit, but after the summit ended, there was little done to ensure that the highway was maintained in the same condition. This is a project on which public money was spent and so it is imperative that the officials involved in the upkeep should be held accountable for the lack of maintenance. Which brings up the question of accountability in the bureaucracy, which has often been debated.
Unlike politicians, bureaucrats are not elected and so not directly accountable to the people. While politicians are accountable to the legislature and to the people and are questioned on their polices and projects, bureaucrats are not and unlike politicians who have to go back to the people seeking re-election every five years, government servants remain in service until retirement, often serving over 30 years in the government. Naturally they too should be held accountable as it is people’s money that is used to pay their salaries and to undertake any development works.
But there has to be some form of accountability and also some sort of control over the bureaucracy. So while today there is no accountability in bureaucracy, there is the need to introduce it. A start can be done by making the administration aware that they are servants of the people and that they too have certain duties to perform, this could also ensure that there are no more instances of cops kicking persons in full view of people and cameras. Simultaneously, the people too should be made aware of their rights so they are alert to the duties of the bureaucrats.
It is only when this happens that bureaucracy will begin to take its tasks and duties seriously and the people too will know what they can demand from the government servants. It will also ensure that projects like the highway stretch from Varanapuri to Verna is not left to the vagaries of nature and that people should not accept it without complaint when a cop gets physically violent.
