Much ado about nothing

Sheila Dikshit is in big time mess, or is she ??? First of all, turns out that she is not blamed for corruption and the media indictment should be taken with a bag of salt. Most people commenting on this are taking into context that the Government has recently been in the dock for corrupt practices and in that back drop we are seeing devils where none exist. I know we must hold the government accountable where its necessary and its not wrong if we are asking questions to the Delhi Government about its spending pattern but we need to factor in a few facts before we lynch Sheila Dikshit's credibility in public.

1. The Government of Delhi is not like every other state government. Even though its elected and legislates for the city of Delhi, many arms of the state machinery are not under its control. Its peculiar to Delhi but its true. For starters, the Delhi Police is answerable to Union home ministry and its not under the Delhi Government. Yet after every rape in the capital we blame Sheila Dikshit (CM) for security concerns. The MCD and NDMC (municipal corporations) are controlled by the BJP (opposition) and are not under the control of the Delhi Government. The DDA (Delhi development authority) is answerable to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and not to the Chief Minister. Only the the ministry of PWD is under the control of the CM.

2. Sheila Dikshit has all the accountability but very few powers in the Governance structure of Delhi.

3. She was not involved in the Common wealth games until 2008. She got involved after concerns were raised by several sectors about preparedness of Delhi for the games and the Prime Minister intervened and asked her to take control of the infrastructure development. In a race against time, she did manage a pretty decent job. Even during final 3 months, she took control of the games village and made it high class from high crass.

4. Estimation for infrastructure development is rudimentary in India. I cannot think of any project that can be finished in time and within budget. Its been a problem and it happens all over the country. The Bandra-Worli sea link was estimated to be completed in a budget of 400 crores and within 3 years. It was completed in 8 years after spending 1600 crores. Is that corruption ??? At worst it is mal-administration. So if Sheila Dikshit spent 4.8 crores/ km on road pavement; we need to compare it with national average to understand that it was within limits.

5. No one seems to ask if the company Space age who imported lights for Delhi, had actually underwritten its inventory to avoid custom duty on the bulbs. If they did, then the company must be prosecuted for mis-representing facts and avoiding custom duties rather than going after the Delhi Government for bloated expense.

6. If someone takes up additional responsibility and delivers an exceptional event on world forum, they need kudos and not brickbats. If there were some decisions that caused excess expense, then I request the people to allow her to explain her stand. If we have to ask her to resign, then so must every CM who cannot complete infrastructure projects in time and within budget.



So long.....