The Hindu : New Delhi News : Good governance takes a backseat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 23, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Good governance takes a backseat

By Sujay Mehdudia

Congress infighting hogs the limelight

NEW DELHI: While Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was away in Switzerland to deliver a lecture on "good governance'', her Cabinet colleagues were busy squabbling away with the Congress-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi. And it took the intervention of no less a person than the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor, B.L. Joshi, himself to settle the issue. With the Delhi Government and the MCD constantly at loggerheads and the former in turn turning the heat on the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre, good governance seems to have become a casualty, feel political observers here.

In Centre's court

In fact, just before leaving for her trip abroad, the Chief Minister had led an all women delegation to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil expressing serious concern over the safety of women in Delhi. Earlier, a group of loyalist MLAs had decided to press their own Congress-led Government at the Centre on the issue of grant of Statehood to Delhi. They had also launched a broadside against some Ministers and demanded their removal.Ms. Dikshit has been a bitter critic of the functioning of the MCD and has often accused it of being corrupt and inefficient, a charge strongly refuted by her own party colleagues in the civic body. The infighting in the Congress party, the slow pace of development projects and resentment within the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) against the style of functioning of Ms. Dikshit has taken its toll on governance, observers feel.

This coupled with the failure to rein in the private distribution companies on the issue of inflated bills and inability to tackle the water and power problems of the residents of the Capital in an effective manner has also reflected poorly on the concept of good governance.

What has surprised many in the political as well as administrative circles is the communiqué of Finance Minister Dr. Walia to Mr. Joshi seeking his intervention in settling the dispute between the MCD and the DDA.

L-G's mediation

Even more surprising is that Dr. Walia decided to involve Mr. Joshi in the process and not the Chief Minister, something unimaginable a few months ago. The fact that Mr. Joshi settled all pending issues without any hassle is indicative of the increased authority he has stated wielding.

Observers, however, feel that the Chief Minister's strong comments on the law and order situation in Delhi and the safety of women is an indirect hint at the functioning of the Ministry of Home Affairs that is also handling the issue of grant of full Statehood to Delhi.

Inflated power bills

Meanwhile, the common man continues to reel under the burden of inflated bills and fast running meters. The employees and engineers of the erstwhile Delhi Vidyut Board have threatened to launch an agitation alleging violation of various clauses of the tripartite agreement and the Capital continues to face a severe water and power crisis that is only expected to aggravate in the coming days. Even so, the political leadership refuses to intervene. The Delhi Government boasts of nearly 1,600 strong Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) network, but they are hardly ever seen lending a helping hand to any social cause or community work.

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