The mains round of Central Civil Services Examinations for the year 2024 ended last month. Soon after the examination, a former student, who appeared in the examination came calling for a conversation session. Explaining his preparations, he informed that he had enrolled in Rau’s study circle for simulator like preparation.
The name Rau’s made the antenna rise. The more than half-a-century old coching institute had embraced infamy last July for the flooding of its classrooms located in the basement of a building, where three students died following the flash flood caused by the overflow from clogged drains after a bout of incessant rainfall.
Without expecting much enormity in the answer, one asked a general question of wellbeing from this examinee. “The god was kind. The person sitting next to me in the hall did not survive the flood and was drowned, whereas I managed to escape,” he said.
Thereafter he went to explain how despite escaping the flood physically, he to devote a lot of time to overcome the mental deluge the tragedy caused. “I with much effort could get myself into a mental state to write the exam without being haunted by the memory of the devastating evening,” he said.
One realised that this memory was going to haunt him and several other civil services aspirants like him for a lifetime.One also wondered whether the event was still part of the memory of the city residents and its rulers or they have conveniently chosen to move on.
Thankfully one read a report in this newspaper, where the reporter had made an effort to update those who were affected and haunted by that dark evening incident.According to the news report, the findings by a high-level committee, constituted by the Delhi High Court, has highlighted the urgent need for a unified command and better civic planning in a city grappling with its rapidly expanding population.
This report, like several other similar reports, identified a multiplicity of administrative bodies as the bane for creating a confusing command structure, making accountability and decision-making difficult.Now multiplicity of authorities, given the nature of multi-tier governance in the national Capital, is something which cannot be done away with.
The two-tiers of this governance structure – the state government and the municipal bodies, are under the control of political executive.The third tier and the uppermost tier, the office of the Lieutenant Governor, though supposed to be apolitical, too has a political executive to report to. Thus the coordination between these multiple authorities are only possible if the political executive at the different levels decide to function in the spirit of the cooperation. The setting-up of the unified command for civic services would also happen if the political executives at all the three levels decide to cooperate.
The silver lining in this otherwise prosaic report is the concrete suggestions it has made regarding the management of the drains, whose clogging leads to water-logging whenever there are rains in the city. As per the recommendations of the committee, 22 of the city’s large drains be transferred to the Irrigation & Flood Control Department (I&FC) by 30 November this year.
This according to the report would initiate the process to centralise control over drainage. While the I&FC would managethe main drains, MCD, NDMC, DDA, and the Delhi Cantonment Board would have to take responsibility for side drains.
Deciding on the responsibility is fine but ensuring time-bound management is the challenge at hand.
The blame games have been played now, and report doesn’t give a guarantee that the blame games would not be played if these recommendations are implemented.
The evening of July 27, 2024 would continue to haunt the minds of the civil service aspirants with no assurance that the MCD, or for that matter any other civic official would not fail in his or her duty which could lead to the clogging of the drain and death of dreams. It’s the political executive which has to protect the dream of the people and unfortunately they have continued to fail them in the city of Delhi for past many years now.
Sidharth Mishra
Author and president, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice