Infrastructural Nightmare: How Poor Infrastructure and Statutory Negligence Fuel Pessimism among Urban Residents

AUTHOR: Akshay Dubey, Graduated from Invertis University, BA LLB (2018-23)

Introduction

Urban areas in India are often associated with modernity and limitless opportunities, with cities like Mumbai and Delhi boasting tall skyscrapers, promising to those looking from the outside, an upgrade in the standard of living and overall safety. However, their hopes get crushed badly the moment they enter these cities and witness the reality. Despite being home to more than 30% of the country’s population, poor infrastructure, safety hazards, and statutory negligence (referring to inaction by the authorities) are a norm in these cities, making living in a city an everyday misery. This article will explore how poor infrastructure and negligence are contributing in growing pessimism among the urban residents.

Delhi 2024 Floods: A Wake-Up Call for the Demand of Proper Urban Infrastructure by the Taxpayers

Floods are frequent in the national capital especially during the monsoon season when the heavy rains overwhelm the city’s obsolete drainage system. This year, due to the intense rains, along with the outdated drainage system and the negligence by the authorities, innocent lives are being lost. However, despite repeated pleas from the public for better infrastructure and drainage systems, the authorities are barely taking any action and are rather doing blame-shifting.

Electrocution of Nilesh Rai

On 23rd July 2024, Nilesh Rai, a civil engineering graduate, was a UPSC aspirant, living in a PG in Patel Nagar. He was preparing for the mains of the UPSC exam after having cleared the preliminary round in his fourth attempt. On his way back to the PG from the library, he held onto an iron gate to cross the waterlogged lane. That iron gate, however, had a naked wire touching it and within minutes, Nilesh was electrocuted to death. Naked wires, with electric current running through them, are not uncommon to be lying anywhere in the streets, being used by many.

Loss of IAS Aspirants' Lives in a Flooded Coaching Centre’s Basement

In the evening of 27th July 2024, 15 to 17 students were trapped inside the basement of Rau’s IAS Study Circle in Old Rajinder Nagar when it got flooded. 14 students were successfully rescued; however, three students died by drowning, their bodies were recovered later. Among the students who died, Shreya Yadav was from Uttar Pradesh, Tanya Soni was from Telangana, and Nevin Dalvin was from Kerala. Shreya’s father claimed that the institution did not address the issue of the flooding in the basement despite such incidents having been pervasive even in the past.

Condolences, Blame Games, Empty Orders for Investigation Rather Than Accountability Being a Norm

In both of the above-mentioned incidents, the pattern was very similar: negligence on the part of the authorities for not eradicating the pervasive hazardous causes, causing such tragic incidents despite repeated public pleas to address the same. Then such negligence to take action leads to tragic incidents, causing loss of lives, and then would start the condolences by the authorities followed by blame-shifting between one authority and another.

However, Delhi is not the only major city that is a victim of poor infrastructure planning and state inaction; other metropolitan cities too have poor infrastructure which causes inconvenience or even a threat to their lives.

Death of Soundharya by Electrocution in Bengaluru

Generally, it is assumed that if an area is posh, upscale, commercialized, and has all the amenities, then it is very unlikely to be a victim of statutory negligence, but even such localities are not safe from having roads with potholes, lack of a proper drainage system, and naked electric wires lying on the middle of the road. The authorities rarely address such issues despite many complaints. Soundharya and her infant daughter too became the victim of such negligence when they were walking in Whitefield, which is an upscale area and considered to be part of the IT Hub in Bengaluru. While walking on the footpath, Soundharya stepped onto an electric wire lying on the footpath. Both Soundharya and her daughter were electrocuted to death.

Factors Causing Infrastructural Nightmare

There are many factors causing infrastructural nightmares, namely:

1. Budgetary Issues: There are issues relating to budget causing such poor infrastructure to be common. From the beginning itself, the funds allocated for infrastructure projects are barely sufficient. Any project would need timely allocation of budget on a periodic basis; non-allocation of the funds on time in the middle of construction causes unnecessary delays and further neglect.

2. Substandard Construction: The root cause of inadequate funding and lack of timely funding can be corruption, which can also contribute to the use of substandard materials in the construction of the projects. Improper maintenance can cause the project to collapse, causing injuries or even casualties.

3. Poor Maintenance: Causing delays in completing infrastructure projects on time is one thing, but lack of proper and timely maintenance of ongoing infrastructure leads to chaos, frequent breakdowns of the infrastructure, making everyday commuting a headache.

4. Obsolete Infrastructure: Most of the infrastructure in the country has become obsolete, being not equipped to handle increasing traffic or high population densities.

5. Underreporting of the Issues and Lack of Advocacy by the Public Community: Most issues like poor roads, potholes, and electric wires lying on the roads are present because the public does not seem to be interested in reporting these issues. There is no single answer to the question of whether such underreporting is due to disinterest of the public from the beginning or their being tired of rampant corruption. Underreporting contributes to the lack of public advocacy against such malpractices by the authorities. If the authorities are held accountable and proper maintenance is advocated for from them, then such negligence can be reduced, and proper management can be ensured.

6. Climate Crisis: Changes in the climate caused by environmental degradation can contribute to extreme weather events such as floods, and heavy rains can overwhelm and cause damage to existing infrastructure. If the infrastructure is not built with the ability to withstand earthquakes and cyclones, then such natural disasters can severely impact the infrastructure.

Population Explosion and Increasing Demand for Land Leading to Urban Encroachment

People from various parts of India are migrating to metropolitan cities, leading to population explosions. Such population explosions contribute to rapid urbanization, continuously leading to the construction of buildings or roads over water bodies, lakes, and rivers. This is known as Urban Encroachment, which causes disruption to natural ecosystems and has consequences such as poor-quality water, frequent floodings, and loss of biodiversity in metropolitan cities. Below are a few examples:

The Untraceable Johads of Shahbad Mohammadpur

Shahbad Mohammadpur is a village close to IGI Airport in Delhi. The residents of Shahbad Mohammadpur see the village roads being flooded during rain and the flood water remaining stagnant for days. The village barely has any water underground.

However, in the 1990s, the situation of this village was quite different. There were two ponds (also called Johads by the villagers). The rainwater flowed down into the ponds, which ensured that the water was accessible to the villagers. But what caused the situation to be different in the present time? Below will be the answer to the same.

Delhi Airport’s Terminal 3: In 2006, with the construction of Terminal 3 of Delhi Airport, the villagers saw trucks being rolled into the village and filling the pond with debris. Not only was the dumping continued by the DDA, but a park was erected on top of the debris-filled pond. While the airport created its own drain to divert or store the water, the people of Shahbad Mohammadpur, on the other hand, started witnessing floods and a low water level. Presently, the other pond remains dry and abandoned.

Rampant Encroachment on Gatahalli Lake

Spread over 100 acres, Gattahalli lake is located in Bengaluru. This lake was open to the public, but private parties illegally put up a gate in the lake, cutting access for the public to not only the lake but also to the park adjacent to the lake. After complaints and social activism, the gate was removed; however, that did not stop the encroachment. The lake is still encroached upon, with a builder building a swimming pool, basketball court, and an open theatre for an apartment project. Numerous letters are being written and complaints filed with the authorities, but so far, no action has been taken. In fact, former deputy commissioner J. Manjunath ensured action against the encroachers, but he was transferred.

Encroachment of Pallikaranai Marshland

According to G. Sundarrajan, an environmentalist associated with the Poovulagin Nanbargal (Friends of the Earth), “Chennai became a city by only destroying and encroaching on water bodies and farmlands.” Pallikaranai Marshland is one of the last remaining natural wetlands, located in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. But the wetland has shrunk from 5,500 hectares to barely 500 hectares, with much of it having been encroached upon by government buildings, commercial buildings, IT Parks & residential buildings, and on top of that, the garbage dump yards are causing more environmental degradation.

Ways to Combat Infrastructural Nightmare

Incidents like those mentioned above are a wake-up call for improving the planning of cities so that it does not cause ecological damage, public inconvenience, loss of lives, and challenging living conditions. Below are ways to combat infrastructural nightmares:

1. Proper City Planning: Except for very few cities, most cities in India are either unplanned or failed as a planned city. Before developing a city, authorities must research, conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and allocate the budget before approving any construction project to ensure that the infrastructure can handle the increasing traffic and population density.

2. Regular Maintenance: The authorities should plan the budget for regular maintenance of the infrastructure, and regular inspections should be done to ensure that it is functioning smoothly and does not pose any risks. They should also be kept equipped to handle extreme weather events.

3. Reinforcing Accountability: If there is any negligence on the part of the authorities causing public inconvenience, injuries, or even loss of lives, then they should be made accountable and punitive measures should be taken against them.

4. Advocacy by Public: The community should ensure that the public holds the authorities accountable and advocate for the completion and proper maintenance of infrastructure projects so that it is ensured that the infrastructure is capable of handling the increasing population density and traffic.

   
   

Conclusion

With the rapid urbanization taking place due to the migration of people from various parts of the country to metropolitan cities in search of a better life, the importance of properly planned infrastructure is emphasized to ensure that the citizens can lead safe and convenient lives. However, due to many factors such as substandard construction, poor maintenance, rampant corruption, lack of advocacy, budgetary issues, and encroachment, infrastructural nightmares are becoming pervasive, causing everyday inconvenience and even fatalities in metropolitan cities. Immediate and effective action is needed to ensure safe and convenient living conditions for the urban population.