Attempt to discipline road-digging

The history of road-digging has been a blighted one: always unplanned, haphazard causing immense suffering to the people for as long as we can remember. Sadly, the chaos has only increased over time. Why is the digging left for the monsoon -- always? Why couldn't the utility services do it in the dry season? Why don't they link up with the relevant ministries and have a coordinated schedule for the digging in seasons other than the monsoon?

DCC has set a time-limit to the utility organisations for finishing the excavation-work, but they haven't set any deadline for themselves to put the roads back in shape, which is their designated duty. If the service providers are to pay fines for not meeting the digging deadline, then DCC should also be held accountable for their failure to repair the roads properly and also within a specified number of days. The proposal for digging once in two years should be improved upon to let it happen at five years' interval, if not more. It is obvious that there are no projections for the future in terms of demography, expansion of built-up areas and that of utility service networks. All these need to be linked to a Master Plan for city development.

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