Will your next deadline be Christmas, Mr CM?

Will your next deadline be Christmas, Mr CM?
H.S. Balram
Times of India

Diwali has come and gone. So have Independence Day, Ganesh Chathurthi, Gandhi Jayanti, Dasara and Rajyotsava. The Bidar byelection is history. Even the pithrupaksha month is over. Ramzan too will pass. Only Christmas is left in this year. Shall we expect chief minister Dharam Singh fix this day as the next deadline for expanding his ministry to the required strength of 34? Or will he look towards New Year? Fixing a new deadline as soon as an old one ends is his routine these days. What are his compulsions? Why is he not able to finalise it?

Singh says the Congress is ready with its list of 11 ministers. His Deputy Siddaramaiah too says the JD(S) list of 11 is ready. Both agree that they do not mind who is in each other’s list. Coalition architect Deve Gowda claims he is nowhere in the picture and that it’s for the CM and his deputy to work things out. So, what’s stopping them?

Elections in Maharashtra are over. After a few initial hiccups, a coalition government is in place. So is a ministry with a respectable strength. But in Karnataka, the hiccups don’t seem to cease. We know it was a forced marriage between two arch rivals. But isn’t six months enough to understand one another? Where then lies the hitch?

That the delay has helped in saving Rs 1.5 crore of precious public money in the last six months is another story. But in our system of administration, a politician’s ‘yes’ is necessary to start any government work. Bureaucrats do not move an inch without getting the nod from their political bosses. Whether we like it or not, a minister’s presence is necessary. And there is no dearth of aspirants. Maybe that is the reason for the delay. But the lists are ready. So, what’s the problem? Will anyone in the coalition speak up? The citizens are completely foxed.

The deadlines are not for cabinet expansion alone. Take the potholed roads of Bangalore, for instance. Incensed by the public outcry over poor maintenance of roads, the CM pulls up officials concerned and fixes a deadline of 15 days to set things right. Nothing moves. Officials blame it on the rains. Why don’t they take effective steps before the monsoon begins? No answer. Singh has now announced a new deadline of November 15 to start maintenance work, in the hope that rains will end by then.

And what does Public Works Minister H.D. Revanna have to say? He blames it on the Krishna government and the BATF: “Why is everyone attacking us? We are in power only for the last six months, whereas the Krishna regime and the much talked about BATF had four and a half years to set things right.’’ We must compliment our ministers and officials. They are good at finding alibis, but not solutions. Speak to them about a problem, and they will reel out pages of reasons as to why it exists and who is to blame. But they have no clue of what’s to be done. Neither do they make sincere efforts towards tackling them.

BCC commissioner Jo t h i r a m a l i n g a m says he has drawn up an ambitious plan — repair work / relaying from the first week of December, 2000 kilometres of roads will be outsourced for a period of three years, maintenance work too will be outsourced, local people and NGOs will be roped in to monitor quality of road laying, arterial roads will be rated on a scale of 1 to 10, road digging will be banned, etc. etc. Looks good on paper.

But didn’t we hear these promises from his predecessors too? One only hopes Jyotiramalingam will be different and keep his word. He appears to be sincere. Singh has a high opinion of him. If he can turn words into action, not only will he earn the goodwill of the citizens, but also do to Singh what Jayakar Jerome did to S.M. Krishna. But no fresh deadlines please, Mr Commissioner. The citizens hate to hear them. And keep a check on quality. Contractors in connivance with corrupt officials do shoddy work deliberately, so that they get a fresh contract soon for the job.