Similarities.

As I read my daily newspaper- The Hindu- and the Austin Statesman (On line), I find there are quite a few similarities in the attitude of civic administration in the respective places, i.e., Hyderabad and Austin, as reported by this media.

The state of roads – many stretches develop pot holes, soon after the rains. It takes a while to get them repaired. The citizens blame the Civic authorities for poor construction, and delay in the resultant maintenance. This happens season after season. Poor laying, improper slopes, choked drainage system along the edge of the roads, are some of the reasons put forth by all. But, never set right while repairing them, or when laying new roads by the contractors.

I can attribute this apathy to: Casual approach to the work, usage of sub-standard material mix, poor workmanship, uneconomical value of the contracts, and delays in receiving payments. Despite all this, same contractors are hired again and again.

Why all this? Familiarity with these works breed contempt. The nature of work is such. To them, small is NOT beautiful.

At the lower levels, the civic administration is invariably run by ‘run of the mill’ people who are trained to do a routine work, not using their own intelligence. They are there to do what they are told to do, which again they don’t do properly! So, the citizens endure all this with a sigh!!

The civic administration is at all times – Short of Funds – reasons are always many and justified by it. So, they keep raising taxes.

And the citizens, ever the complaining breed- resist the tax increases.

The financial reports are made public once a year, or as deemed fit. They may be on the website, but few see and understand them. Figures are tricky. They can be made to look alarming or comfortable by comparisons.

What is the remedy? That is life! Just get along, and put up with it.

Good Samaritans: - Their breed is far and few between. Yet, they exist and contribute their own might to civic duties that are inspirational.

In Austin, a bus shelter was erected under heavy rain by such two good Samaritans. Hat’s off to them. They showed concern for fellow human beings. Although the shelter was pulled down by Civic officials, their act suggested for its need.

Recently, a portion of a Flyover collapsed in Hyderabad during construction stage, following heavy rains, resulting in the scaffoldings and concrete slabs falling on cars down below crushing them. Persons from the crowd immediately helped extricating the injured from the debris.

Such accidents do happen in a split second. Unfortunately, the citizens are not trained to render immediate assistance. Discussions are held, but soon forgotten. Life again moves on.

Small Groups: To get things done to their advantage with public institutes, functional groups are formed to represent their pleas effectively. They also get the strength to do collective bargaining, and are a force to reckon with during negotiations.

That’s part of democratic governance.

In Austin, the small-business group is to present a petition to the city council to prevent tax incentive deals for retail projects. One group or other always calls for ‘Level Playing fields’.

And so in Hyderabad, similar business groups/associations keep petitioning the civic administration/state government to offer incentives or a rebate in taxes.

In other words, the public demand facilities and whine on increase in taxes. The Administration wants to hike taxes and short on providing facilities.

This see-saw game is akin to Tom & Jerry cartoon show.

As citizens, we must all air our views – politely and firmly till a satisfactory workable solution is implemented.