Substandard and overlapping public works

Neil Ray If the top functionaries of the government were to be believed, their concern is no less than reaching improved basic utility services at the doorsteps of the citizens of the capital. Hence the bifurcation of the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC)! Uninitiated Dhakiites are complaining for nothing. Aren't the northern one going to compete with its southern rival in furnishing faster and better development works and the vice versa? In hot pursuit after each other, imagine the pace of development the capital is going set. Gone are the days when, perhaps under the influence Abul Hossain who left the roads and highways unattended for most of the year only to mind the repair business in the monsoon no matter how perfunctorily, casual road repair and services were the standard of public works. In many years, it is for the first time that footpath development, relaying of sewerage lines and gas pipes have started well before the start of the winter. If you don't find blemishes in putting up dividers on narrow roads in residential areas or refurbishing with a different pattern of bricks footpaths that were in perfect condition, you surely have no problem approving of the caring touch of the authorities in your localities. If you grant this much flexibility, you can possibly be asked to make a little further concession where you will have to turn a blind eye to the overlapping of works done by utility services. This has been going on right now in Mohammadpur, and we believe, in other parts of the metropolis -sorry north and south DCC areas. Lanes in several blocks of Tajmahal Road were carpeted about six months back -this time not with bitumen, brick or pebble chips but with brick chips, cement and sand mixture. Now the Titas Gas Company has got into work to show what it can do. It is digging the lanes to relay their pipes. Never mind the overlapping and the redoubling of the expenditure on the exchequer! All should be thankful to the utility service for not choosing the monsoon to undertake the relaying job. Earlier when a contractor tried to shabbily carpet Salimullah Road of the same area with just a thin layer of brick chip, the inhabitants there protested and finally made him to run away with his dear life. The road was left in its ruinous condition for months but then it had to be carpeted according to the right specimens of materials. That was demonstration of people's power. Political elements grab opportunities illegally in the absence of public awareness and concerted actions. Wasteful expenditure and casual, substandard and very poor public works can be avoided if the citizens demand annual, biennial or even five-year plans for different localities and force the utility services to coordinate their works together. That way the corrosive corruption can also be reined in, at least to some extent. This also points to the fact that the local government needs revamping for working with active participation of local people.