Delhi has become the second most populous city in the world after Tokyo. At a staggering 35 million, it has more people than the combined population of Australia and New Zealand. The UN World Urbanisation Prospects Report suggests that, in a decade, Delhi, with a projected population of 43 million, would surpass Tokyo. However, is the city’s infrastructure ready for this overcrowded future?
This monsoon should have been a sobering experience for the political leaders who promised a Parisian makeover for Delhi. The complete collapse of civic infrastructure exposed the maladministration in the city. UPSC aspirants drowned to death in a basement which illegally doubled up as a library. Children died while playing in a flooded ground. A mother died in a valiant attempt to rescue her child from drowning in an open drain. Youngsters were electrocuted after touching live fallen wires. Yet, the political establishment has the audacity to create a myth of dazzling achievements, with full-page advertisements. Angry citizens are now asking: Where has the taxpayer’s money vanished?
Over 40 per cent of Delhi’s residents languish in squalor. Unauthorised colonies and slum clusters have proliferated with active political patronage. Connivance between corrupt officials and the land mafia has made a mockery of the master plan. People are lured into spending a lifetime of savings on fraudulent transactions and illegal construction. Hundreds of cramped multi-storeyed tenements have sprung up without roads, drainage, sewage or sanitation. Sporadic half-hearted attempts of retrofitting have added to the chaos. Colonies in low-lying areas routinely get submerged every monsoon. Drinking water on tap is a trickle and the tanker mafia rules the roost. Garbage is strewn along roads and in housing colonies. At several places, a mesh of power lines hangs dangerously.
Delhi’s rural population, less than 3 per cent, lives on the margins. They are largely ignored as a political vote bank. Two-thirds of the villages do not have piped gas supply. Just over half of the city population lives in the so-called “planned” parts. The situation here is no better. Drains overflow into streets revealing gross neglect of desilting. Choked sewer lines burst open with unfailing regularity. Open drains become death traps for pedestrians and even the heart of the Capital has potholed roads.
The city government is not investing enough to build new roads, drains, water treatment- and storage facilities and sewage treatment plants. Can abject failures of governance be hidden behind mere populist propaganda on the “Delhi model” of governance? A revenue surplus state 10 years ago, Delhi risks getting caught in a debt trap. There is not enough money for routine repairs and maintenance. That is why sewer lines are choked, drains are overflowing, buses routinely break down and roads are potholed.
In the last decade, water treatment capacity grew just over 4 per cent, while Delhi’s population has grown by 15 per cent. In normal circumstances, there is a shortfall of 290 million gallons per day. The unaccounted-for water — theft, leakage and non-paid dues — is as high as 58 per cent. Even if the supply is increased, it would amount to pumping water into a leaking bucket. Over the last decade, the Delhi government has spent Rs 28,000 crore for the water sector — apparently all has gone down the drain. No serious efforts have been made to plug the leaks or build storage capacities. Even the canal which carries water from Haryana was breached this year. The attitude towards neighbouring states is one of open hostility.
The much propagated “Delhi Health Model” is a sham. Mohalla clinics which recruit “walk-in doctors” run on a perverse model of incentives to inflate patient footfall. Over 20 new hospital facilities are being constructed, at a cost of Rs 8,000 crore. The entire focus is on construction, without an iota of effort on the budget, the need for creating 38,000 posts and procuring modern medical equipment. Over the next few months, some of these buildings will be ready and stand out as mausoleums of neglect.
Delhi’s collapse has benefitted neighbouring cities — Gurugram, Noida, and Greater Noida. Corporate houses prefer to establish their offices in these cities even with costlier real estate. High-end apartments, malls, educational institutions and universities have relocated to other parts of NCR.
Delhi has the third worst air quality in the world. The hill-sized mounds of garbage at Gazipur, Okhla and Bhalswa are a blot on the national capital. Solid waste management in most parts of the city, barring the New Delhi area, presents a horrific sight. Yamuna, the lifeline of water supply to the city, has become an open sewer. Twenty-two open drains discharge untreated sewage directly into the river. Thousands of crores of public money have been spent over the last decade in the name of a farcical cleanup.
The elected government shrugs off responsibility and always finds a convenient alibi. If the water supply runs low, Haryana is to blame. If there is excess release in Yamuna due to heavy downpour in the hills, even then Haryana is to blame. Bad air quality is attributed to stubble burning in neighbouring states. If no other excuse comes to mind, the blame is passed on to the Lieutenant Governor for posting bad officers. On other occasions, the bureaucracy is publicly berated.
Delhi, as the national Capital, has a special status in the Indian Constitution. There has always been a degree of tension between the political aspirations of the elected government and the LG, who represents the Centre. In the past, these used to be ironed out through dialogue and discussion. A healthy consensus in the interest of development has defined the relationship between the chief minister and the LG. Somewhere down the line, this democratic compact was broken. Today, the elected government is positively hostile towards every other administrative agency. It routinely knocks on the doors of the High Court and Supreme Court on petty matters.
The Chief Minister is in judicial custody. Citizens are held hostage. Governance is in a free fall as ministers obsess over press conferences while the real aam aadmi suffers in silence. It is high time for introspection and course correction. The national Capital of a global power deserves better.
The writer is Lieutenant Governor of Delhi
