By Jawed Khurshid for Maeeshat

With just a couple of days to go for Municipal election on February 21, the politicos have started frequenting around in their constituencies, with droves of their supporters, seeking voters’ blessings. They encounter people frowning at them. They complain of problems directly hitting their home and hearth: drains, pollutions, hygiene, women’s safety, price escalation, soaring crimes, et al.  It is highly taxing – as they make door-to-door visit to rekindle faded memory vis-à-vis, their past achievements. ‘The people’s memory is ephemeral,’ they complain. What an injustice!

They remember only their follies and forget all the goodies they procured for them. It is a common criticism they (politicos’) make. Doesn’t this sound strange? A former councilor from Govandi while making a dig at the Saffron government retorted, ‘the demolition drive undertaken by the government is highly reprehensible. First they proffered their support by erecting their tents in the city through slumlords solely with an eye on their vote banks, and then left them in the lurch post-election.’ Disgusting! Ingratitude is even more biting and painful than the stabbing polar gale.

He hit hard on the state Samajwadi Party supremo, who also represent the area in the state assembly, Abu Asim Azmi’s autocratic attitude and mumbled, ‘Diseases are rampant here due to dumping ground in the vicinity. He did not even raised his voice against this in the state assembly. Isn’t this a classic case of betrayal of public trust?’ he asked.

Syed Imran, an upcoming fashion designer quipped, ‘the pockmarked city roads itself speaks of how serious they’re regarding civic issues?’ Potholes, like small pox, have infested the suburban thoroughfares, which is due to poor quality of bitumen used. Smelling a rat? ‘The government is giving us gyp as the city is shorn of its additional megawatts. The result: neon signs are shoving away its rich and more illuminating cousin,’ complained Imran.

‘The corporators are, in most cases make big promises but fail to provide basic infrastructure,’ observed an audiophile and businessman, Fazal Fida Hussain. On the question of ever expanding shantytowns he said that the state government should develop Satellite Townships with adequate infrastructure, which may shoulder the burden of this titanic city. This would be cathartic to the millions of denizens that are undergoing the trauma of traffic snarl, bad roads and water crisis to name a few.

One is frequently visited by the disgusting sights of urchins – who belong to slums that have mushroomed around the international airport – attending to nature’s call. The stink emanating from piled-up garbage and open drains are highly taxing on our health. This reeks of administrative mismanagement.