The Hindu : New Delhi News : Chief Secretary upset over civic agencies' failure

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 11, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Chief Secretary upset over civic agencies' failure

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, FEB. 10. Delhi's Chief Secretary S. Regunathan is upset these days with the civic agencies for bringing a bad name to the Capital by its failure to maintain quality world-class roads. However, it is the inaction and inefficiency on the part of the Delhi Government to get the Cabinet decisions on this issue implemented even after a lapse of two years that has led to the present deplorable situation.

The Chief Secretary has been at the helm of affairs for the past eight months and was also the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister for five years but has done little to ensure that quality and accountability is brought into the functioning of certain departments especially those dealing with infrastructure projects and their maintenance. Thanks to the patronage given to a section of officials, despite having a bad track record, the situation has worsened. Every year during the monsoon or when the Capital is lashed by rain, the city roads become a nightmare for commuters. Right from the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, to the Urban Development Minister, A.K. Walia, everyone has been crying foul about the situation but has done little to remedy it.

A stark reminder of the inaction on the part of the Government is the failure to implement even Cabinet decisions putting a question mark over their sanctity. One of the decisions pertains to introduction of "third party quality assurance" regime to prevent corrupt practises in implementation of such infrastructure projects. The Cabinet's decision to introduce "third party quality assurance'' continues to remain on paper even after 24 months of it being approved. Similarly, the Cabinet had also taken a decision to outsource major infrastructure projects including those relating to construction of schools and hospitals in the city. This decision also remains on paper and the Public Works Department (PWD) and its officials continue to hold the entire system to ransom.

Dr. Walia also appears helpless as he has till date not been able to get this Cabinet decision of January 20, 2003, implemented by his own departments and officers. So much so that even engineers and their heads with dubious records continue to serve and handle important projects in the PWD and the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation (DSIDC). In its January 20, 2003, meeting, the Cabinet, under the leadership of Ms. Dikshit, had decided to introducing new technology for improvement of roads and putting in place a third party quality assurance mechanism to check the rising instances of corruption and poor quality in execution of infrastructure projects.

However, instead of going ahead with the implementation of the decision taken by the same Government two years ago, the Chief Secretary has gone ahead and constituted another panel with new set of guidelines to ensure quality construction and work.

It has been observed in the past that not only is there reluctance on the part of the Government to challenge the corrupt engineers, but there is also some kind of avoidance in penalising guilty contractors and companies. There have been instances of contractors and companies being blacklisted and the same being revoked within weeks for some strange reason.

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