The Delhi High Court, in a rather frank manner, rebuked the Government for putting up 15,000 CCTVs in place for the Obama visit, but not acting with the same urgency as a matter of daily function. Hearing a petition filed seeking that the cameras being put up for US President should not be removed in a hurry after the visit, the court further commented that the speed at which the government functions, it will probably be years before the cameras are actually taken down.
Keeping up with our Atithi Devo Bhava sentiment, the government is doing everything short of moving mountains to impress Barack Obama with a secure, clean and modern Delhi and no stone is being left unturned in this pursuit.
The way we see it, this visit may indeed be more important to the average Delhiite than previously thought. Here we have made a list of 6 problems that very person who has lived or has visited Delhi would identify with.
And how the visit from a US President will fix everything!
1. Security problems
The security architecture in place for the Presidential visit is super hardcore. Organisations like the Indian IB, SPG and RAW and the US CIA , NSA, FBI and our very own Delhi Police, among others, will be ensuring that crimes and terrorist threats are held at bay.
The Delhi govt only has to ensure that this architecture and level of efficiency is followed later as well. And crimes in Delhi would soon be history.
2. Traffic Problems
Half of the traffic problems which people in Delhi face are due to the presence of abandoned construction material from metro sites, faulty red lights, wide roads encroached upon by wider shops, etc. These are only a few problems, excluding dharnas by Chief Ministers, of course.
But we can’t have the most powerful man in the world stuck in traffic, can we? Clear the malba and the rocks, fix the lights and widen the roads. All in a fortnight.
3. Women’s safety
We have already talked about the 15,000 CCTVs which will be put into place for security. As the court itself observes, don’t remove them. This in tandem with the beefed up security measures mentioned might just be the radical steps we were waiting for the govt to take…
…one year ago.
4. Drinking water and sewage
For Obama, the dengue breeding drains will be covered, water borrowed from neighbors or produced using hastily refurbished plants.
No more smelly lanes, dirty roads and buying 20lts Bisleri water kegs.
5. Electricity and power
A major headache for many parts of Delhi. But just for the visit, we might even increase our consumption of alternative fuels like biogas and solar power, just to tell Mr.Obama we are doing so.
And voila! No more waking up in the middle of the night to check your inverter batteries.
6. Urban development
Slums to be relocated, stray cattle to be herded off the roads, construction works delayed for decades to be finished in a month are only some of the amazing things that the municipal corporations plan to do.
Beautification of iconic locations, planting of trees…phew! Obama will be dazzled.
It is admirable that the government is doing so much in preparation for the visit of the US President Barack Obama.
But all of this should have been done ages ago. As the Delhi High Court observed, maybe we need visitors from outer space to make our governments work.
Feature Image : topnews.in
