Delhi’s drainwater deaths expose systemic failures
Corruption and neglect claim lives in Delhi, highlighting dire need for accountability
Shreya Yadav, 26, Tanya Sumi, 27, and Navin Delvin, 26, are the latest victims of corruption in India. Remember these names, as no one in the world’s largest democracy will, until another tragedy occurs.
These three young adults were preparing for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) at Rao’s academy, in a cramming class held in an illegally constructed basement. They drowned in drain water that flowed in due to the drains in Delhi, India’s national capital, which have not been cleaned for decades.
The parents of these young adults would have paid hundreds of thousands to the private coaching centre in the hope of securing a chance at India’s coveted Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the holy grail of employment in India.
Ironically, aspiring IAS candidates, who are meant to be trained by the so-called “steel frame” that administers the Indian government, receive coaching in an illegally constructed building for which some official was bribed to turn a blind eye. The students were receiving a real-time lesson in how India is run.
Not an electoral issue
Just the day before, a young man was electrocuted to death outside the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) building in New Delhi due to exposed wires that short-circuited in the rain. Two weeks prior, a man was decapitated while sitting in his car when a portion of the roof at Indira Gandhi International Airport collapsed on him in Delhi. The roof reportedly fell because of rain.
Yes, you read that correctly. I have exhausted myself writing article after article on India’s rampant corruption and infrastructure failures, and nothing has changed. I do not expect any change for a hundred years because public corruption is not remotely an electoral issue.
Consider the irony: the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently in jail over an alleged liquor policy corruption case, governs Delhi. They came to power promising to transform public life but instead have used their power for personal gain. All Kejriwal and his self-righteous associates do is blame the central government for Delhi’s problems while seeking more power.
The late Sheila Dikshit, as the Congress Chief Minister, ran Delhi with the same powers that Kejriwal holds and did so effectively. Having lived in Delhi all my life, except for a stint in London, I have never seen the city in such a degraded state.
Public relations blitzes
The roads are in a sorry condition, air pollution is out of control, the quality of power, when available, is comparable to waterborne infections, illegal construction is rampant even across the Delhi Ridge (the city’s only green lung), and drains have not been cleaned for years. At the first sign of rain, the roads turn into stinking gutters. This is the state of the national capital while Kejriwal resides in a million-dollar-plus newly renovated home.
All the AAP does is create drama, with its so-called drama queens holding endless press conferences, passing the buck, and playing an unending blame game as Delhi cries out for proper administration.
AAP and Kejriwal also excel in taxpayer-funded public relations blitzes, giving full-page advertisements to newspapers that prominently feature Kejriwal’s picture and self-congratulatory copy on the “Delhi model”.
According to details provided to the Supreme Court, the AAP’s publicity blitz amounted to ₹1,073 crore over three years. The SC questioned why they could not use these funds to finance infrastructure projects.
Kejriwal, who attacked Dikshit as a corrupt leader, now stands accused of major corruption allegations himself. He also claimed he had no powers in the municipal corporation that manages Delhi, yet the AAP controls the MCD and is making excuses even for basic cleaning of drains.
Delhi’s mismanagement
Kejriwal’s primary interest seems to be amassing power. This would still be somewhat excusable if the AAP made any genuine attempt at governance. Punjab and Delhi, where they are in power, serve as cautionary tales of how not to run an administration. The AAP merely blames other parties and states, such as Haryana, for Delhi’s water crisis, and the central government for Delhi’s mismanagement.
The problem of infrastructure neglect is not confined to AAP. They are simply an example of how corruption spreads across the political spectrum. Consider our railways, where accidents and loss of lives are reported daily, yet nothing ever changes due to the zero maintenance of tracks.
In Bihar, 15 bridges collapsed in a month, despite Nitish Kumar’s claims of being a “good administrator”. Similarly, in Gujarat, the collapse of the Morbi bridge in October 2022, which resulted in over 141 deaths and more than 180 injuries, highlights how even high-profile projects deteriorate shortly after inauguration. No one is held responsible, and the massive corruption continues.
Until Indian voters start holding parties and leaders accountable for these widespread failures, nothing will change, and the latest tragedy will be forgotten.