The Hindu : New Delhi News : Problems galore before Sheila Govt.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 31, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Problems galore before Sheila Govt.

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, MAY 30. The Sheila Dikshit Government may have returned to power on the development plank, but this is one area that is suffering the most in its second tenure as the slow pace of development suddenly threatens to end the prolonged honeymoon. Crisis on the power and water front, dozens of delayed flyover projects, an over-bearing bureaucracy and failure to come up with new innovative infrastructure projects is certainly a cause for concern, feel political observers here.

Interestingly, it has been left to the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, to single-handedly steer the administration in view of the under-performance of the bureaucracy and her Ministers. However, even the Chief Minister is finding the going tough in view of the increased expectations of the electorate.

This time round, the Sheila Dikshit Government cannot lay the blame at the doors of the Central Government for a majority of things that go wrong. With a Congress-led coalition Government at the helm of affairs in the Centre, the onus is completely on the Delhi Government to get things moving. Observers feel that no further excuses can be offered for non-regularisation of hundreds of unauthorised colonies, failure to grant full Statehood to Delhi and getting approval for converting residential areas having more than 70 per cent industry into industrial areas. Then there is the additional burden of putting on track the much-delayed Master Plan for Delhi.

With the exception of the Delhi Metro project that has progressed satisfactorily, all other infrastructure projects are far behind schedule. Dug up roads, continued piling of construction material along major roads due to some construction work or the other, bad condition of roads, over-flowing sewers and of course the poor situation on the power and water fronts have become major irritants for the residents of the Capital.

"No doubt the flyover projects are far behind schedule and other major infrastructure projects are not coming up at the pace they should, but things will start picking up once the budget is presented. It will give the necessary direction and thrust to our vision and policies for Delhi," said the Chief Minister.

For instance, the Inter-State Bus Terminal project at Sarai Kale Khan has been approved after constant delays. However, the ISBT projects at Dwarka and Narela are still to take off despite the proposals have got a nod in principle nearly two years ago. Similarly, construction of the elevated Ring Road is yet to pick up pace as the Public Works Department is understood to be resisting such a move.

The dream hospital projects that were supposed to become operational are still lying in limbo without any signs of becoming operational. Reforms on the power front face the threat of being derailed due to various factors including "internal sabotage" by some bureaucrats and political leaders. The situation on the water front is not very satisfactory and that has delayed unleashing of reforms in this sector.

As for the Ministers and the elected representatives, they stand marginalised. Even small postings and transfers are left in the hands of the Chief Secretary, Shailja Chandra, with MLAs begging her for posting of even small officials like the block development officer or sub-divisional magistrates in their areas.

"The posting of SDMs has been the prerogative of the Revenue Minister. However, the Office on Special Duty (OSD) of the Chief Minister is handling it and the final approval comes from the Chief Secretary. An MLA cannot have his or her choice of officials," remarked a senior Minister.

The Ministers are also sore over the fact that senior officers posted with them take dictation from Ms. Dikshit and this has badly hampered work on various projects. "We are not authorised to write the Confidential Reports (CRs) of senior bureaucrats working under us. This power is vested with the Chief Minister in a half-baked State like Delhi. This is the main reason why these official hardly listen to us," another Minister added.

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