Lack of coordination and communication coupled with ego tussles among officials ensure that decisions about the city are whimsical and planning haphazard

In Chandigarh, the top brass of the Administration is usually busy in settling their ego fights, and the Administration and the Municipal Corporation — and their departments — work without any coordination. The result is haphazard planning and whimsical decisions.

Often, decisions taken by the city’s public servants reflect complete lack of communication. And then there is the famous ‘difference of opinion’, which has blocked many proposals and decisions.

Sometimes proposals conceptualised by former officials are dumped by their successors, who don’t find them ‘suitable’ for the city.

Bureaucrats, it seems, take Chandigarh as an experiment posting, taking decisions which are more whimsical than planned, more arbitrary than reasoned.

Newsline lists some issues, which point towards the state of affairs in the city.

Advertisements
Advertisements are allowed on AC cabs, not on non-AC cabs. CTU buses have ads, but LPG autos and tuk-tuks are barred from displaying them. This ambiguous policy of the Administration delayed the launch of non-AC cabs, as the dispute over fare could not be settled.

Industrial policy
Industries Secretary Ram Niwas was in favour of formulating an industrial policy, but Finance Secretary Sanjay Kumar objected to it. Eventually, officials developed cold feet on the issue and the policy draft was brushed under the carpet.

Lighting up the city
The city experiences long power cuts and a large number of streetlights along the main roads are non-functional, but roundabouts glow with green and purple fancy lights. Also, the Administration had fixed lights to illuminate the trees on Jan Marg. These lights were removed after environmentalists protested.

... contd.