CRUCIAL BITES FOR TOOTHLESS CITY ADMINISTRATORS

Dysfunctional municipalities across India fail to vest power in those responsible for essential services. Urban life can improve by penalising non-performers, fixing last-mile gaps and institutionalising aesthetics

- VINAY SAHASRABUDDHE

QUALITY of urban life is a subject of eternal relevance. Sadly, it has also become a holy cow. No one dares to slaughter it, but no one seriously feeds it either. Parliamentary committee reports indicate that the 'hardware' of urban India—metros, housing complexes, sewage plants—is being built at an unprecedented pace. Yet the use of this infrastructure and ultimately the quality of citizens' lives depends on the 'software' of governance.

As city dwellers in Maharashtra prepare to vote in several municipal corporation elections, it is pertinent to reflect on a long list of issues crying out for attention. Here are six fundamental concerns that merit wider public discourse, consensus-building and-most importantly-honest political will. Ideally, these issues should dominate discussions as competing parties seek a popular mandate.

The list begins with linking all state and central grants to the performance of municipal bodies. Urban local bodies spend substantial funds received from higher governments, but owing to corruption and mismanagement, overall improvements in the quality of urban life remain elusive. The 15th Finance Commission made a significant attempt to reform municipal finance by tying grants more closely to performance outcomes than in the past.

One critical new metric proposed is the maintenance of 'squatter-free public areas'. Expanding this to include the proportion of encroachment-free pavements would help create a quantifiable index. Equally important is penalising nonperforming corporations that allow slums or illegal shops to mushroom on streets. Such disincentives would push urban bodies to perform better.