The flooding of underpasses and under bridges after a mere two hours of pre-monsoon rain in the capital city of Delhi and the collapse of a 2009 built roof at IGI airport speaks volumes about poor workmanship and the gross ineptness of Indian bureaucracy at large.
It is also a reflection of political leadership which has not been able to make the bureaucracy accountable for its misdeeds and inability to deliver on maintenance on the ground. It is not the rain but the flooding of Minto Road underpass that indicates that monsoon has arrived in Delhi for the past decades with NDMC bureaucracy and engineers unable to come up with any answers. The same is the case for drainage systems in other underpasses as the city's political leadership and municipality look the other way to rampant unauthorized construction and encroachment on footpaths. It is the same for Delhi’s chaotic traffic with police looking the other way to choking off roads by unauthorized parking. It is a free-for-all in Delhi and even the public is equally to be blamed as it conveniently flouts laws when it suits their convenience.
But the larger malaise is Indian bureaucracy which allows the politicians and the public to flout laws for votes and convenience respectively due to sheer competence or consideration. The flooding of roads, passes and the collapse of the Delhi airport roof are due to poor maintenance and non-accountability of the private operators by the government regulators.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to make the bureaucracy accountable by taking strict action or else the babus will rule unchecked sensing the number vulnerability of the NDA government in Parliament. If they sense that the Modi government is business as usual in its third term, the babus will take advantage of its vulnerability and can even resort to leaking documents to the Opposition parties for they know which way the political wind is blowing. The non-accountability and fiefdom culture is not restricted only to civilian bureaucracy but also to the military bureaucracy. Do you know that even after 75 years, the BSF defending the Indian border gets its ammunition supplies separately rather than getting from Army ammunition depots along the border? Did you know that for repair of even small arms of Indian Air Force personnel stationed in J&K, the arms have to be sent to a maintenance unit down south instead of nearby Army repair depots?
It is the sense of periodic entitlement and commensurate perks that allows the Indian bureaucracy to operate without accountability. Rather than holding a review exam after becoming a joint secretary after 15 years of service, the Indian bureaucrat is all set for his entire life including a post-retirement job after passing one exam in his early twenties.
While PM Modi has tried his best to show the mirror to Bharat’s civilian-military bureaucracy, the problem lies at the core of Indian mandarins, who actually are an extension of Bharat’s colonial past. The colonial bureaucratic book needs to be thrown into the dustbin if India has to become a developed country, merely changing covers will not help.