It’s time for you to answer tough questions! Babus face music in UD Department meeting

Mumbai: Used to their colonial lifestyle where everyone else is forced to take orders and obey them. They used to be treated above everyone, including the law. But the change of guard in the state has changed all that. The otherwise adamant and arrogant bureaucrats are now facing tough questions. 

It was at a meeting in the Urban Development Department on Tuesday, the babus attending their had nowhere to hide from the point blank questions shot at them. The meeting was called to discuss various infrastructure issues in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The officials concerned made presentations to pat their backs. But none of them ever expected hard hitting questions which found the bureaucrats on wrong foot and running for excuses. Highly reliable sources said, “None of the officials present at the meeting was adequately prepared”.

They do not have basic information about the issues on agenda.” Various issues such as transport, metro rail, cleanliness, SRA and MHADA Projects were on agenda. But the officials concerned were not aware about the basic details. “Poor public transport and cramped local trains are the major issues in the city. When the issue of deaths on railway tracks in MMR came up, the official were struggling to answer. Similarly, they could not come up with convincing replies when asked about the status of the SRA buildings near airport. “There is a building with 17,000 tenements near airport which was occupied by local goons.

The situation was so serious that government had to use police force to get the building vacated a few years ago. But now the officials are in dark about the current status of the building,” sources said. Presentations on various SRA schemes were made during the meeting. But the officials do not have the accurate number of total beneficiaries of the schemes. “It is a serious matter and needs to be dealt with seriously. If this is the attitude of the bureaucracy, then the government needs to tighten the noose,” said a senior bureaucrat who did not wish to be named.

When the questions about cleanliness under Swachch Bharat came up, the officials tried to mislead the committee members by making tall claims about the performance in this sector. However, his claims were shattered when it was pointed out that the state has failed miserably on water supply. “It is irony that the bureaucrats have become so irresponsible. When one claims to have built millions of toilets and is not aware of erratic eater supply in the region, it calls for some harsh decisions. It’s time to implement Swachch Bharat Yojna in bureaucracy first,” sources said.