Another year has passed, and the unstoppable passage of time has brought us another new one, with all the hopes and expectations every new beginning entails. The state, as is the rest of the world is still reverberating with the wishes for and from one’s dear and near ones. But scrap the surface filled with festivity and gaiety, and one can feel the palpable sense of frustration and exasperation with things developing the way it is in the state- the way it has always been. So what can we expect from the new year that been welcomed with much fanfare and high spirits? If one could keep the judgmental part aside for a moment, there certainly are quite a few new things. For one, there are numerous new potholes appearing besides the ones which have been neglected and literally avoided for so long that they have taken the proportions of craters and small pools. There are also new and extra personnel being deployed to provide security along the way where heads of state are to travel. One must also include the new modus operandi being increasingly utilized by the administrators to preempt any negative backlash from the public for the innumerable deliberate mistakes and wrongdoings which has been carried on in cahoots with the cronies. The new system of power distribution should not be left out as the public, in spite of having made to pay for their power usage in advance, are still denied their right to electricity as and when they require. There are talks on the street about a new way of peddling contracts where those who strode the rarified corridors of power in the state are becoming silent partners with majority stakes. The people of the state are also witnessing a new method of ushering in development- one where construction and other developmental activities are increasingly confined to high exposure areas where maximum number of the public can actually see the works going on irrespective of the actual benefit such activities would provide to the public.
At the risk of sounding contemptuous of the developmental efforts of the state government, most of the changes the public are witnessing had been of a regressive nature- from the nature of rewarding contracts for public developmental works to the manner in which selection of various candidates for different jobs and professions are being carried out bears the unmistakable stamp of indifference and self-serving motives. Assurances and promises have so far come out to be empty. The state government should stop passing the buck and own up for the mistakes and screw-ups. It should draw up clear-cut objectives and the method of performing them. Responsibilities should be fixed and any discrepancies should be addressed before they are allowed to foment and become uncontrollable. And these things should commence from an earnest will.
