A recent research on Democratic local governance conducted in the South East Asian nations shortlisted the best practices wish list of the people. Primary amongst them were “People participation in decision making” & “Speedy delivery of services by going local”.
Assuming that the demographic profile of Gurgaon wont be dissimilar to a Manila, or Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, the same holds true for our city too.
While real estate in Gurgaon has had a free run in the past decade, the delivery of services, esp. Institutional in nature, has been a laggard. “Chandigarh” is more used as a ruse and excuse for delays, rather than a solution to problems.
The consumer is the biggest loser as he ends up paying more for the same products & services. Most often, we hear career politicians blaming the lack of participation of the people in the democratic processes. To counter the argument, how do the people participate in decision making when the knowledge of services, as well as the officials imparting them, are based in a distant land.
Why not imbibe what many other wel governed cities & nations of the world are following – “Taking the services to the people”. What are the benefits though?
I am told that most files go back & forth between Gurgaon & Chandigarh a few times, before it is accepted & approved in the true form. Why not just have the department locally, and train / certify professional to provide error free documents? Wouldn’t it save time, effort & money?
Consumers of services are clueless, many a times, about the authority to approach for redressal of grievances. When the place to approach is Chandigarh, apathy takes over. That leaves only activists & interested parties to take up a miniscule number of issues, which keep the Aam Admi away.
Going by stats, more than 60% of all real estate activity in Haryana is happening in the districts adjoining Gurgaon. Why should developers, industrialists, environmentalists, consumers etc. from everywhere reach Chandigarh, and not be able to enjoy “governance at the local level”?
Out of the box, Laudable efforts in the recent past, have come from Gurgaon Police, MCG and some other local bodies. If they are innovative & transparent, how come the state services aren’t imbibing those? It always gives rise to the paramount question – “Are delays Intentional”?
Gurgaon city is attractive to foreign capital who would broadly like to invest in three activities – Manufacturing, Real estate, Infrastructure. These investments would benefit citizens only when the ventures are started with the correct “intent & ability”. There are organizations which would like to contribute towards the ever burgeoning water problem of Gurgaon. The Chandigarh approval is what deters these foreign experts & capital.
The old marketing adage remains that “the market size expands when the services are taken to the consumer, who happily pays the premium to the creator”. The coffers of the state govt. can only increase with approving authorites in Gurgaon, and a logical attack on corruption.
We hope that the decision makers would dispel our notion that “some difficulties are created, and the rest are for people to complicate”.
Hope logic prevails.