You will be fined upto Rs. 10,000 if you are found illegally parking your car in Mumbai.
And honestly, I applaud this move by the BMC.
I am all for people being penalized, and heavily too, for breaking the law of the land, especially when it causes inconvenience to others.
The citizens have to be held accountable for their wayward behavior.
But is the accountability limited only to the unruly behavior of the citizens?
Is the BMC itself held accountable for various lapses and negligence that it has been responsible for, which has led to loss of life and property?
How come there are no fines for potholes on roads which swallow an entire car at a time?
How come the BMC is never fined for traffic lights which do not function causing havoc on the streets?
How come the BMC is never fined when the roads are dug up and never repaired causing damage to the vehicles that have no choice but to drive over such bad roads?
How come the BMC is never fined for political banners which destroy the skyline of the city and are never taken down?
How come the BMC is never fined for allowing the footpaths from being encroached upon which forces the people to walk on the streets and cause accidents?
How come the BMC is never fined for the overflowing garbage bins which they “forget” to clean up and the garbage flows onto the streets leading on to various diseases?
How come the BMC is not fined when a flyover or a walkway overbridge falls down and people get crushed under it?
How come the BMC is not fined when a citizen falls in an open manhole and drowns to death?
How many times have we heard the BMC being held accountable, much less fined for a single act mentioned above?
So is the responsibility only of the citizens? Does BMC not need to be held accountable for their own fallacies?
Sure, penalize the citizens when they are erring. But do the same when the BMC makes mistakes too.
Afterall, no one is above law and the citizens PAY the BMC to do its job which it fails to do on numerous occasions.
“Responsibility and Accountability” is a two way street. You cannot hold the citizens responsible for the job that you are not doing.
And if you do want to the people to be ideal citizens, it might be a good idea for BMC to lead by example and come out as ideal and upright themselves.
The post was first published by Darshan Mondkar on his Facebook Timeline.
Disclaimer: This post was inspired by RJ Malishka, if the BMC wants to raid someone they should raid her, I don’t have any money to pay any fines 😛
