Non-performing liabilities

We all like to be optimistic, especially at the start of a brand new year. Last year we elected a new government at the Centre and in the state. It was evident from the long lines at the voting booth that Vizag's citizens were voting for change. And when the new crop of politicians, and some old party switching ones, took the reins of power, Vizagites were brimming with hope and expectation.Soon we were injected with a massive dose of hype. Every public figure talked of big projects, fantastic facilities for the common man, efficient e-governance, and citizen's involvement. But despite the average Vizagites' eternal enthusiasm, there is an undercurrent of despair creeping in.
Unavoidable and avoidable bad luck
No doubt we have had our share of bad luck. Just imagine the odds. An upper-air cyclonic circulation formed thousands of kms away in the Andaman Sea, travelled like a giant guided missile and struck Vizag right in the gut. This is a case of unavoidable bad luck. Then consider our avoidable bad luck. Vizag's roads are in shambles. Our geddas that once drained clean rain water into the sea have become stinking drains over the last two decades. Our solid waste management stinks; our streets are a chaotic mess where humans, animals and vehicles of all type vie for that finite strip of asphalt, and where more than 1,370 accidents and 420 lives are snuffed out on an average every year. Vizag's healthcare is pitiable, our university and schools are crumbling, our air, sea and ground water is polluted, our fishing harbour is an unhygienic mess, our bus stands have gone to seed and our state buses are rattling coffins on wheels. Our administration has scant regard for our heritage and our God given environment.
How do private organisations do it?
How is it that most private companies, even the 'born in India' ones, work efficiently and deliver wealth to their shareholders under adverse conditions? How is it that they understand customer needs, design products and services to suit their needs, manufacture them to world standards, market them internationally, provide after sales service and deliver customer delight year after year? The obvious answer is that they are better managed. If they are poorly managed they become weak and die and are replaced by more efficient organisations. Strong organisations are those that are ruthless with non-performing staff. If a department does not perform, the manager is rarely given another chance. He or she is shown the door double quick. This goes all the way to the department heads, the directors, the CEO and the chairman of the company. Shareholders are a no-nonsense lot. The mantra is simply "perform or perish". No excuses are accepted.
Its morphine of promises that keeps us going
The problem is that Vizag, like many other Indian cities, has been cursed with government organisations that have failed us repeatedly. Through all this, the sedate public of Vizag has done nothing beyond muttering complaints in private. Most of us are fed on bits of optimistic news every day, like a terminal patient getting a shot of morphine daily. The headlines start with the words "Vizag to get ..." and end with a myriad range of projects and developments, which are forgotten a month later in the static of media announcements. But consider the reality. We are a city groaning under the weight of mismanagement in every sphere of city administration. These organisations are messy, under-funded, perceived as corrupt and generally poor performers.
Creative excuses
The excuses for non-performance range from the sublimely creative to the downright ludicrous. And why can't our local bodies perform? The excuses are plenty starting from no money, no people, unexpected transfers or change in administration heads. One of their favourite excuses is to point upwards at their political bosses to explain why they could not deliver on their promises. They forget that if they are not getting what they need to get the job done, it is their fault because they did not have the forethought, the budgeting skills, the knowledge or the courage to stand their ground and get the resources they needed to do their job. Sometimes and in private, they blame us - the citizens of Vizag. They call us indisciplined, unable to take instructions, and being bad citizens. The traffic police cannot control the mayhem on the roads because of rash drivers. The garbage cannot be handled because the citizen does not segregate it. The roads can't be repaired because there is no budget. Quite bizarrely the failure of enforcement, which is the administration's responsibility, is touted as reason for non-performance. These organisations are equipped with the powers to penalise illegal actions, but are too lackadaisical to enforce the law. In fact if they simply start fining all illegal actions in the public domain, they would become rich overnight.
Replace promises with performance
If chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is to be believed, he wants to run our state as a corporation of which he is the CEO. If so, organisations like GVMC and Vuda, that run our city, must behave like corporations. We, the tax paying citizen, must behave like customers, reasonable but demanding of performance. It's the corporations' job to get the work done. If one executive cannot get the job done, get someone who can. If there is a shortage of managers in the government, get someone from the private sector. Vizag's public have been on morphine too long, we are tired of platitudes and excuses. As Harold Geneen, the late business guru and American business tycoon, said, "Promises are promises, explanations are explanations, but only performance is reality". Vizag needs a reality check. It is time to perform.
(The writer is an envi-ronmental and heritage activist. He can be reached at sohan.hatangadi@gmail.com)