Delhi is not a full-fledged state yet. The demand for full statehood has been long pending. It was only 15 years ago Delhi was given a Vidhan Subha (Legislative Assembly) but most of the important departments like Police and the DDA are still in the hands of the Central Government. Apart from it, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation are almost independent bodies enjoying a great deal of autonomy. The multiplicity of authorities is the major reason for not having good governance in the most important city of the country.
The game of passing the buck goes on and the general public has to suffer. Officials show callousness and apathy towards the public because they are not fastened with any accountability. This is the reason that despite having the highest per capita income in the country, Delhi is also the centre of mismanagement, illegalities, anomalies and rampant corruption.
Name any other city in the country, where two major national parties –BJP and the Congress –vie each other for legalizing the patently illegal matters. Take the example of haphazard growth of colonies. Firstly, the local leaders of both parties, with the support of their higher leaders and in connivance with police and other officials allow the colonies to come up and then make hue and cry for their regularization. Both parties are in competition with one another in pegging the demands up. These demands get pitched up when the elections are round the corner.
How the colonies mushroom? Modus operandi is simple. Local leaders and land mafia acquire the land. They advertise about the availability of the land. People throng them. They sell the land at the exorbitant rates. Nobody knows who the owner is? Land is given on the condition that the structure would have to be raised in a week’s time. Lo and behold! The colony has sprung up. The police and MCD officials are made to keep quiet, obviously by sheer dint of money.
Then the second phase starts for electricity and water supply. For these facilities concerned employees are found to be too willing to help for the greed of money. Then the third step starts for regularization and this picks up tempo at the time of assembly or parliamentary elections.
Same thing happens with the encroachment of roads, parks and government lands or conversion of residential areas into commercial ones. Residential colony after colony have been converted into business and commercial shops causing huge inconvenience to the law abiding citizens, of course, with the blessings of the politicians, police and other corrupt officials. These violators of law belong to well-to-do class and they will generally be seen cribbing about corruption but turn Nelson’s eye to their own corrupt deeds.
This is a vicious circle. If anyone tries to curb or control, there will be orchestrated protest against him/her. If the High Court or the Supreme Court steps in to rectify it, even they are not spared from open canard and criticism. The protest is heightened to the extent that government finds it easy to legalize the illegality by making the law. Once it is done then there will self congratulatory exercise of the politicians for taking the credit.
What a shame! These politicians have no qualms in doing as these illegal works. Media also plays into the hands of the corrupt people and whenever any drastic step are taken, mostly at the instance of the courts, media empathizes with corrupts and bring in the human angle forgetting that the illegal construction or conversion will be a permanent and chronic problem, which could never be cured. The number of persons, who can raise their voice against the illegality, is small and silent. Any sporadic protest against such illegalities is drowned in the high volume of din and bustle of the corrupt guys.