Potholes & Politics

Disclaimer : If anyone is not much interested in politics or with condition of roads, please do not read it further. I am not supporter or against any party, i am just trying to put in my view.

Potholes & Politics

From last month or so almost every newspaper`s are busy in following the numbers & measuring size of potholes across Mumbai. They are actually showing India & world the corruption & condition in the financial hub of the country. I drive by bike only around 2 km from home to station and it’s pathetic, The great & honorable BMC has actually cut a stretch of road leading to my home in half for (messy) extension of road and its actually more than 6 months road is broken but nothing build (ok, in case if you are getting a feeling that I am just writing here and not complaining ,, then fyi, I have already registered a complaint in the Govt. portal in May month, below are the details and still waiting for their revert.

Status as on 08 Aug 2011
Registration Number	:	GOVMH/E/2011/00463
Name Of Complainant	:	Amit Patil
Date of Receipt	:	25 May 2011
Received by	:	Government of Maharashtra
Current Status	:	RECEIVED THE GRIEVANCE

The problem here is MCGM is run by Shiv Sena, who has a habit of getting angry and creating ruckus if anything happens which ‘THEY ARE NOT HAPPY ‘with, but in last 10 years or so they have hardly got the same amount of anger for locals right specially for (their Vote-bank) Maharashtrians, for whose rights party was formed 40 odd years back. I was born & brought up in typical Maharashtrian, Girgaon Chawl, Till late 80`s there was no tap in chawl houses and everyone used to depend on the common tap at our ground floor and the well (which is around 100+ years old). I remember at that time MLA named Vilas Avchat, the Shiv Sena member took the initiative set up tap in all the houses and ensure there was water supply for atleast 3-4 hours without actually asking anything from the chawl members. No wonder when the civic body election came in he won in Girgaum with good margin of votes. I still have a house there and there is big difference in what Shiv Sena was 10 – 20 years back then and now. All the Shiv Sainiks and even Balasaheb will need to accept it that Shiv Sena was very different during his tenure as party chief and now under Uddhav`s leadership.

I just fail to understand even after losing in Centre and then in Maharashtra, why can’t Shiv Sena learn that they need to get things at a right place atleast for the coming BMC Election in 2012. Ideally they should have taken the road contractors to their task and ensure there is very few complaints now but this never happened. No wonder the top 5 contractors who keep on getting contracts from BMC for maintenance of the road are owned by the clerks & Officers of the BMC, MMRDA & PWD. I am not trying to be anti-shiv sena here but I personally feel Mumbai could have been much much better city.

They call their party by the name synonym to Shivaji maharaj but I doubt they follow any of his principle`s. One of the basic & important difference is when Shivaji Maharaj used to go with his army for conquering any of his enemy’s fort or to build a fort he always instructed his army not to take help from the nearby village (where they used to spend nights), not to ask any kind of foods or any place from them, he always ordered his army to carry food or food materials with them and to cook, On the other hand, BMC is quite famous for causing inconvenience to Mumbai people`s.

It is not only about Shiv Sena or BMC, the others i.e. MMRDA & PWD which are in the hand of ruling parties i.e. Congress & NCP are also in this mess but frankly I don’t find them as the culprit since even if Maharashtra congress wants to build a single room in Maharashtra they will have to take an approval from Delhi, so no point of speaking about them. That’s why I am of the opinion that State ruled and Centre ruled parties should never be the same, We have some good example`s in recent times like Gujarat, Bihar & Tamil Nadu. They don’t need to wait for centre order and also state ruled party do understand the problem of locals more than centre ruled one.

We do have State parties like Shiv Sena, BJP, MNS, etc, of it SS- BJP is ruling BMC from around 20 years, MNS is new and is legible for one chance (Its purely my view). Raj Thackeray claims he has a blueprint for the development of Maharashtra and if he comes to power he would do changes, I do agree with him, not because I am a maharashtrian but yes we do need a new govt and for me he seems to be a good option. I am frankly not an MNS member but as I said I would like to give him a chance in the coming elections.

Coming BMC election will show whether 20 years rule of Shiv Sena will come to an end or will they continue the power? Can MNS pitch in this time, they missed by a very thin margin from coming to power in Kalyan-Dombivali MCGM, can they put their aggression in practical sense after coming to power ? OR Can congress – NCP get the power in MCGM too???

Till that time let’s try to see the happy side of potholes where small childrens are using them as a swimming pool or they are making paper boat imagining it as a small pond. J Also if anyone is not getting leave from office he can just call his boss and say that he feel on in the pothole while walking and his hand/leg got fractured. :)