In recent weeks, there have been significant disasters at government-run establishments, caused by negligence and/or poor maintenance. At Thane station in Mumbai, for instance, an overhead water pipe broke and fell on a train. In Jaipur, an oil storage depot caught fire, and the fire took days to put out. What makes these events even more tragic is that there is a dull sense of acceptance about them in our psyche. It is government run, so what else do you expect? What happened is just a visible example of badly broken government systems.
There were several prior reports highlighting the dangers of the water pipe at the Thane station. Still, nothing could be done about it. How do you do anything about it anyway? For many government-run public facilities, you don’t need a panel of experts to tell you they are poorly run. The infrastructure is often in a shambles, the staff is either rude or out on a lunch break, and nothing works without bribes. Further more, where do you complain? If your cellphone stops working, you have a service centre to visit or a helpline to call. In a government-run setup, you have nowhere to go. If you find the stairs broken at a Mumbai railway station and the overbridge looks like it could collapse any minute, there isn’t much you can do. There may be a suggestion book somewhere and there will be a station master. But even if you do approach him, he will point you to another higher office, which will further point you up the chain. At some point, you will feel foolish or frustrated — or both — and give up. The next time, you will just step carefully around the broken staircase and pray hard you are not on it when it caves in.
Why does this happen? Aren’t we paying the railways when we buy a ticket? Doesn’t that make us, if I may use the word, their customer? Why then do we have so little power to change things? More important, can something be done about it? I think, with this government, now more than ever, we can.
November 8, 2009 (The Times of India)