So if you face the same problems during the 1998 monsoons as you did last year, you know who to blame: all three bodies.

Though civic works are supposed to be wrapped up before the monsoons, ditches are a common sight all over the city even after the pre-monsoon showers. Telephone cables and stormwater drains are still being laid, apparently as `emergency' cases. Needless to say, these unlevelled, unmacadamised sites will be the first to present a problem to the pedestrian and the scooterist alike when the rains come down.

At least part of the last-minute rush can be attributed to the lack of coordination among the various agencies. According to VMC sources, officers of the three departments meet only when permission is required to lay cables.

Taking up the VMC's case, a highly placed civic officer said the corporation had to allow DoT to dig up the roads in case of cable faults. So far as dig-ups for storm water drains are concerned, he said, ``We can't leave the work incomplete when nearly 80 per cent of it is wrapped up.''

Sources said that if the officers concerned could plan out their schedule for the entire year, coordination problems would not arise. This would also do away with the mud-slinging inevitable when one department accuses another of irresponsibility or passes the buck to a third.

For instance, recently, DoT General Manager Rakesh Babu alleged that the laying of gas pipelines triggered 1,000 cable faults. ``The gas lines are laid much deeper than the DoT cables. Very often, the civic workers do not replace the DoT cables at their proper height of three feet. And the fault lies undetected till the rains set in, as has happened this year.''

Predictably, a civic gas project spokesman denied the charge, maintaining that they had received no such complaint from DoT. ``They should pinpoint the fault so that we can take up the matter'', he said, adding that electricity and telephone cables and gas lines could be protected if representatives of all three departments were present at dig-ups.

Asked if coordination among the authorities was not mandatory, Babu said, ``Yes, but it never works that way. But we sought permission to continue work till June 10 and have not taken up cable-laying jobs after that''.City Engineer B K Desai also admitted that coordination was necessary. ``But as DoT has transferable postings, every few months there are new officers and nothing much materialises'', he added.

According to civic sources, coordinating with the GEB was much easier. The GEB authorities said they took permission whenever any work was undertaken.