Many of us belonged at one time, to some village or the other, but abandoned the tranquility, the unpolluted atmosphere and the picturesque surroundings of our villages to avail of better comforts, amenities and studies in reputed schools and colleges in our cities.
The exodus to the cities still continues yet, today, many feel they would have been better off in villages. While many countries encourage people to live outside the main cities by paying them traveling allowances, here we are crowding our cities and have allowed, due to our apathy, slums to adorn them and buildings to come up without any planning or thought for the comfort of the residents. Our villages are surely much healthier and more peaceful, though present and past disgraceful Governments have tried and still attempt to destroy their serenity, ecology, scenic beauty and demography without any effort at improving their infrastructure to meet the needs of the growing population.
The 74th Amendment to the Constitution visualized people’s participation in the municipal affairs of the city as one of its main objectives. However, this is limited, mainly because people look at municipal bodies with inherent suspicion and have realized that their problems and grievances will never be taken care of. The negative perception of Municipalities needs a change. This could be the reason why tomorrow’s elections have evinced little interest in voters, at least in Margao, though most candidates seem enthusiastic.
Undoubtedly, our Municipalities have been badly governed, mainly due to unwarranted interference of the Government, selfish interests and greed of councilors, conflicts between them and Chief Officers and corruption and non-cooperation in municipal corridors. If Municipalities have to be effective they need to stop buckling under the pressure of the Government or the threats of municipal employees and put up a unanimous and forceful demand for common cadre, which Governments have refused to put in place, so far.
Municipalities depend much on the Government for their survival and effectiveness, as the paltry sums, in most cases, of house taxes and other revenue, mostly uncollected are grossly insufficient for the upkeep of the city. While cooperation between Government and Municipalities is essential for the smooth functioning of the latter, the former must understand that funds belong to the public and not to the Ministers or the Government. It is unfair, autocratic and in fact nauseating, to starve Municipalities of funds, just because the Chairperson does not belong to the ruling party or does not toe the line of the Government. This practice and that of depriving opposition constituencies of development have been in vogue for long but is more evident now.
Manohar Parrikar descended on Margao, soon after being elected CM and promised to come again to solve particularly the traffic and parking problems. Not only did he not turn up but nothing happened on that front. Will the BJP leader, who kept crying hoarse that Digambar Kamat as CM did nothing for Margao, tell us what did his Govt. do for our city and why his leader failed to fulfill his promise? Among the various other reasons, this and the step-motherly treatment to Margao should be the main reason to reject outright, BJP-sponsored candidates. In fact, the stinking political parties should stay away from Panchayat and Municipal elections and allow citizens to breathe some fresh air and choose hardworking and upright people as their representatives to local bodies. BJP has learnt a lesson in Panchayat elections and hence did not dare face these elections on party lines. Criticizing the Judiciary, Jaitley spoke of the tyranny of the unelected. However, the various anti-people and anti-environment decisions and attitudes of this Government, the aggressive postures and downright mean and highly offensive and insensitive outbursts of some of its functionaries, denoting a total sense of disregard for the minimum norms of decency or decorum, solely banking on the majority it enjoys, surely speak more volumes for the arrogance and tyranny of the elected.
The choice in the present elections is indeed difficult due to the presence of several candidates. While the undesirable ones may be shunned, division of votes, which could give an edge to them, must be avoided. New faces do not necessarily mean better ones. A few of the old ones have done their bit and tried to be at the service of the people. We cannot paint all with the same brush. It is imperative for us to insist on Municipal Sabhas so that our voices could be heard. The semblance of a small revolution against the MMC, some months back fizzled out in no time to the extent that we were not even capable of having a Citizens’ Committee or Front to put up some good and serious candidates, who would make a difference in the Council. The only recourse for us now is to be alert and work in close cooperation with the Councilors for the development of our cities. Garbage and traffic, in my view, should be our priorities. But above all, we need to ensure that our Municipalities do not abdicate their rights as administrators of the cities and stop being pawns in the hands of the Government and meekly submit to their dictates and those of their so-called Planning Departments. Let us, citizens and councilors, join hands to uphold and maintain the dignity of elected Councils.
(The author is a retired banker)
