The recent tragic incidents in India have highlighted a common issue: local governance lacks effective functioning, accountability, and transparency.
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A series of recent tragic incidents in Indian cities and their subsequent handling by local city administration have raised questions about local urban governance and its ability to deliver safety, fairness, and justice to its citizens. These occurrences, indeed, are not sudden and exceptional man-made disasters. Indian cities now seem to be accustomed to such incidents with remarkable consistency. This article selects five such diverse events that occurred near each other—all in May and June 2024. These are not restricted to any single city or state but are picked up from across the country. They reveal that the malaise is deep, and each occurrence has shaken the faith of the residents in the ability of the city administration to deliver what we term ‘good governance’.
The first such tragedy happened in Mumbai on 13 May 2024. Following thunderstorms and high-velocity winds, suburban Ghatkopar witnessed the collapse of an oversized billboard measuring about 14,400 square feet. Given the population density of Mumbai, it was not unusual that there were people around, especially as the billboard stood cheek-by-jowl to a petrol pump. Close to two dozen people lost their lives, and scores suffered various degrees of injury. The facts that emerged after the tragedy disclosed that the billboard stood on railway land and had been given permission for erection by the railway authorities. Secondly, the structure was way beyond the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s billboard size restriction of 40 ft x 40 ft. It was precisely nine times the maximum size permitted (1,600 square feet). The enormous size of the billboard that stood for more than a year could not have missed the eyes of the authorities. Yet, no one thought it was their responsibility to do something about it until the dreadful accident occurred.
The first such tragedy happened in Mumbai on 13 May 2024. Following thunderstorms and high-velocity winds, suburban Ghatkopar witnessed the collapse of an oversized billboard measuring about 14,400 square feet.
The second incident occurred on 19 May in Pune. A rich, drunk, 17-year-old boy allegedly smashed his Porsche into two young IT engineers, who could not survive the brute impact. What followed the crash exposed the complete lack of good governance in handling an open-and-shut case and highlighted the failures and alleged machinations of various city and state government departments in derailing justice. A pub first crossed the prohibition line and served liquor to a minor. After the crash, the city police were found seriously wanting to register a proper case and get the 17-year-old tried as an adult. There was an inordinate delay in collecting his blood sample. The Juvenile Justice Board granted bail to the boy and asked him to write a three-hundred-word essay on the dangers of drunken driving. The doctors of a government hospital allegedly colluded with others to switch the boy’s blood sample with another clean sample. The details of the case grabbed national headlines, foregrounding the worst form of misgovernance that one could imagine in a city otherwise known for its several qualities.
The third occurrence that grabbed adverse headlines was the fire in the TRP Game Zone in Gujrat’s Rajkot on 25 May 2024. The facility was operational for the last three years. The Special Investigating Agency (SIT) team set up to examine the tragedy found that the Zone had experienced another fire in September 2023. The municipal fire department doused the fire but failed to take action against the absence of mandatory fire safety measures. The facility did not have a fire NOC, no building permission and fuel was stored beyond permitted levels.
The third occurrence that grabbed adverse headlines was the fire in the TRP Game Zone in Gujrat’s Rajkot on 25 May 2024. The facility was operational for the last three years.
Further investigations revealed a series of serious misdemeanours by the promoters. For instance, entry and exit to the play area were combined and narrow. An emergency gate was mandatory per the fire safety rules. However, this gate was missing in the TRP game Zone. The SIT Report discovered inaction on the part of the town planning and fire departments. Other governmental authorities empowered to take action also turned Nelson’s eye.
The fourth is the hooch tragedy in the municipality of Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu, where about five dozen people lost their lives. As is now an established practice, an enquiry has been ordered into the incident, and monetary compensation has been given to families that lost their dear ones. The district collector was transferred, and half a dozen people have been arrested. While politicians indulged in a slugfest, each blaming the other, it is evident that the world will move on, and we will return to the subject when the next hooch tragedy occurs. Given the past regularity of hooch tragedies in this country, it can be asserted that the next one is not far away and could occur in any of the cities in the country. The local administration’s inability to prevent hooch tragedies nationwide is now an established fact.
Fifth, amid these occurrences in cities in the country, citizens of the national capital, Delhi, were subjected to a double oppression—water woes and sweltering heat. Parts of the city had the water taps run dry, and there were long queues to get water from water tankers in Vasant Vihar, Geeta Colony in East Delhi and Okhla in South Delhi. The crisis became a political tug-of-war between Delhi government and the neighbouring state government of Haryana. The former alleged that the Haryana government had curtailed water releases from Haryana, creating scarcity in Delhi. The latter alleged that the crisis was of the Delhi government’s own making and blamed it on the maladministration and unpreparedness of the Delhi government. The quarrel finally reached the Supreme Court since the two parties failed to resolve their differences. Meanwhile, the people of Delhi continued to suffer from shortages.
A whole series of governance deficits can be cited for such incidents. The most obvious problem is that it is difficult to establish any kind of accountability in an urban local body. A dozen departments are involved in any decision taken. It is easy to point a figure at someone else and play the game of passing the parcel. If anyone is successfully identified as a prime culprit, the criminal justice system seems unable to deliver requisite punishment in a reasonable time frame. The situation is further complicated in the larger cities because of the existence of parastatals within the physical jurisdiction of the urban local body (ULB). Furthermore, in this era of cut-throat political competition, all attention is diverted towards political one-upmanship rather than diagnosing the problem’s fundamental reasons. Demographic overload, financial fragility, bureaucratic apathy and misconduct, and local political meddling are too well known to be further repeated here.
A whole series of governance deficits can be cited for such incidents. The most obvious problem is that it is difficult to establish any kind of accountability in an urban local body.
The consequence of all the cited deficits is that they coalesce to create a complete absence of the principles of good governance in city administration. They have long been highlighted almost unanimously by urban academicians. These include local empowerment through a functional and financial mandate, the dissolution of parastatals within cities, the mayor as the chief executive, more transparency, clear accountability and the retreat of the state government from the operational areas of ULBs. Despite these being on the urban reform agenda for decades, it is unfortunate that in the desire to exercise raw power over ULBs, every reform that has been suggested has been tossed out of the window. In their absence, city governance will continue to be a casualty.
Ramanath Jha is a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Dr. Ramanath Jha is Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai. He works on urbanisation — urban sustainability, urban governance and urban planning. Dr. Jha belongs ...
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