Growing problems of an expanding city
The rapid growth of Lucknow, in terms of housing, population and territory, has brought with it copious problems. The issues of garbage, stray cattle, inadequate policing, traffic congestions and damaged roads, continue to haunt the citizens of Lucknow.
Any special effort to make Lucknow a model and smart city seems to be completely lacking. Gomti Nagar, best known for parks and VIP homes, is perhaps the only area that can boast of a relatively better civic order.
Thousands of stray cattle are roaming on the streets, but the administration seems oblivious of the issue. Living on garbage and plastic, these cattle are dying a slow death. It is perhaps true that the abandoned bovines, which earlier found entry to slaughter houses, have now been left to fend for themselves.
The roads have never been in such a pitiable condition as one finds them in today. Barring a few VIP roads, traversed by the CM and the ‘mantri mandal’, the rest of Lucknow is synonymous with potholes and broken roads.
If the roads in the state capital are in such a deplorable condition, one can imagine what the condition in other cities would be. While undertaking repair work, the government must fix accountability at each level in order to ensure durability and longevity, something that our roads have been deprived of.
The irregular and erratic release of funds by the nagar nigam to ‘Ecogreen’, the company outsourced for garbage removal, has added to the problem of overflowing garbage bins and littering on the streets.
Street vendors, hawkers and paanwalas add to the filth on the streets. Garbage bins are not compulsory and with no enforcement in place, the streets remain filthy. To give an example, the government of Kerala has made it mandatory for every shop and vendor to have a garbage bin, prominently placed, with huge fines by the civic authorities for non compliance. The city of Thiruvananthapuram is practically garbage free. Till garbage bins are not made mandatory, with imposition of huge fines, Lucknow will remain a garbage city.
The quality of traffic policing seems to have witnessed a sharp decline over the last one year. Crossings are not managed effectively. Almost a third of all two-wheeler drivers are without helmets, not to talk of the pillion riders. There is practically no law enforcement on one-way entry, whether it is Rana Pratap Marg or the Nishatganj flyover. Except for a handful of roads, there is no fine for wrong parking, resulting in utter chaos.
When citizens don’t have the sense of responsibility, it becomes the duty of the administration to govern with diligence and adhere to strict implementation of rules and regulations. With such a vast administrative set-up, one wonders what prevents the officers from taking measures.
The state government has a good vision for the city, but is in dire need of a fine-tuned set of eyes and ears.