Our Municipal Elections are coming up this week. On the 15th we will vote. On the 16th the votes will be counted. And then the real battle for who will govern us will really begin.

Ever since I can remember, I have voted for every election be it local or national. And while things have improved since I was little, paradoxically they have gotten worse. Of course many things can’t be blamed on politicians such as unbridled population growth, unplanned urban sprawl, climate change but somethings definitely can .

Footpaths

For instance, footpaths. Gradually they are getting narrower with more hawkers occupying space and selling all kinds of stuff from clothes to pots and pans. Surely, these commodities are not essentials that need to be accessed just at one’s doorstep ?

And footpaths also become dormitories, garbage dumps or just plain unusable. They are made of paver blocks that wobble or are at random heights that require stair climbing skills. Footpaths that double up as special lanes for two-wheelers . Footpaths that are used to park cars.

Then cars are parked on the left lane so that the road is further trimmed down to just two ( if you’re lucky) or a single lane that needs policing to regulate two way traffic. So when the pavements are inaccessible, the lane closest to the pavement inaccessible, pedestrians have no option but to walk on the roads and risk being run over by cars, buses and two-wheelers.

Public transport

Obviously the BMC doesn’t care about pedestrians.

But obviously they don’t care about motorists either. With inadequate parking facilities in private buildings and public spaces, car owners have no option but to employ drivers or valets to take their cars round and round till the job gets done.

Why not take the public transport ? Well , that is not really an option for older people or those who don’t live close to the bus stop or train station. Besides, boarding the bus/train is well nigh impossible with crowds surging to get in and get out. All at the same time.

General infrastructure

Apart from the roads which are pot-holed, the pavements that are unusable, public transport meant for the brave, our Municipality ensures that every year there city comes to a halt because of flooded roads. Of course, it is easy to blame the climate, the tides, the encroachers and a whole host of causes but surely after so many years our innovative city engineers could have come up with some solution ?

Air quality

All along we could take comfort in the fact that our city’s air was breathable thanks to the RTO’s strict monitoring of vehicular exhaust.

But of late, the air is slowly becoming unbreathable. Now this is purely due to the indiscriminate construction of buildings and roads. I cannot think of a single road in Mumbai that is free of debris, a single road that is not dug up, a single neighbourhood without any construction work.

The candidates

Which brings me to the moot point – when most of our corporators are barely educated and largely on the make, how can I rest my faith in them ? Can they be relied upon to provide the basic facilities?

If not, why should I vote for them ?

Ciao

Of course I will vote because it is my right to do so. But with the choice being limited to incompetent, corrupt corporators, I can only take comfort in the fact that I have exercised my fundamental right.