Smart Cities Need Smart Governing

WAY BACK IN THE 1980s, M.J. Akbar, then founding - editor of The Telegraph , said only half in jest that Indians might soon need a visa to travel to Bombay.

- Minhaz Merchant

Akbar is now Minister of State for External Affairs and Bombay is Mumbai. But the sentiment he expressed then still holds: Mumbai contributes around 35 per cent of tax revenue to the Indian treasury but gets a fraction of it in return to develop the city’s infrastructure. The problem of course isn’t just money. It’s governance.

The Brighan mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is India’s wealthiest municipality with an annual budget larger than that of some states. And yet the city’s 22 million inhabitants receive appalling civic services from the BMC. The recent deaths of citizens due to potholes on Mumbai’s roads, building collapses and falling trees have brought into sharp focus the corruption that has made the BMC one of India’s most irresponsible municipalities.

It is run by the Shiv Sena but all local parties, including the BJP, NCP and Congress, are complicit. As a recent Times Now investigation revealed, road contractors pay up to 30 per cent of the price of road tenders as a bribe to a pyramid-like structure comprising BMC workers, corporators, MLAs and — at the top — senior party leaders. All get a cut, in ascending order.

Most cities across India suffer from similar problems though not on the same scale as Mumbai. Delhi is fortunate in having a city government with a large budget. An elected chief minister like Arvind Kejriwal, however unpopular he may be, ensures a modicum of accountability. Sheila Dikshit in her 15-year tenure as chief minister vastly improved Delhi’s infrastructure, including giving the city its excellent metro network.