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Monday Musings: Citizens’ office more important than PM Modi’s office
Public opinion needs to be so strong and forceful that politicians are compelled to walk the straight and narrow path when it comes to matters of public importance. The next challenge that the PMC must address is on the garbage management front.
In a democracy like India, the office of the citizen is more important than the office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This was originally put forth by former US President Barack Obama when he said that the ‘office of the citizen’ is more important than the ‘office of the president’ during his interaction at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in December 2017.
When asked about the rise of divisive forces in India, Obama said that politicians often mirror society and the people of India can strengthen the hands of politicians by speaking out against divisive forces.
As such, it is everyone’s responsibility to speak out against divisive forces and to reinforce such views.
The tallest among world leaders, even when he is not in office, Obama, observed that politicians rarely get too far ahead of public opinion and often reflect the views of society.
It is therefore that public opinion that matters and the citizens of Pune, citizen activists and a contentious citizen-centric media need to raise and emphasise on issues that are of importance to the public and society. We may not see immediate results but we must also not give up easily.
Public opinion in our city needs to be so strong and forceful that the politicians are compelled to walk the straight and narrow path when it comes to matters of civic importance.
For years together, the citizens and citizen-activists of Pune have been crying out for good footpaths. For a number of years together, it seemed that the municipal commissioners of the city and the civic bureaucrats were as good as deaf to these cries as they continued to neglect the cause of footpaths.
As reported by Hindustan Times in the past week, footpaths have now made a healthy revival in the city.
Be it Aundh or JM road, broad footpaths are now beginning to mushroom in the city in tune with the guidelines laid down by the Urban Street Design.
Apart from the Smart City roads in Aundh, footpaths on the entire stretch of JM road are in the process of being widened and this plan will be replicated on Satara road as well.
This is part of the Pune Street Programme initiated by the PMC under the leadership of civic commissioner Kunal Kumar and must be appreciated by citizens.
It is heartening to know that the civic body has set up a dedicated Street Design Cell and is consulting professional designers and urban planners for the improvement of streets and public places.
Hopefully, the PMC will show the same enthusiasm and zeal in pursing the Pune Cycle Plan which envisages the revival of cycling in the city.
The beginning has been excellent with a number of civic-citizen consultants working in close coordination and the introduction of bicycles for students in the Savitribai Phule Pune University campus. This initiative has received a good response and one can find a number of people cycling within and outside the university campus, especially in the Aundh area.
We stand fully behind the citizens, civic officials, citizen activists and politicians who support such initiatives for the benefit of citizens.
The next challenge that the PMC needs to address is on the garbage management or Solid Waste Management (SWM) front. Although a lot has been done on this, in addition to the bountiful philanthropy of Rs 120 crore under the Adar Poonawalla Clean City initiative, Pune continues to grapple with this challenge. Here, it is the irresponsible citizens, unscrupulous commercial establishments and roadside eaters who are to be blamed for not segregating dry and wet garbage as per the rules. The time has come to take strong action against such offenders.
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abhay.vaidya@hindustantimes.com
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