There is no point in taking credit

There is no point in taking credit for building the highways. Highways are already commissioned by the parliament and executed by the national highways authorities. Besides this, these highways are given on a third party contract to able builders and thus there is no problem of building the highways.

What we really need is improving the roads within the cities. Roads within the cities are in a pathetic and pitiable condition with huge pot holes in every stretch of roads. The roads within the cities are full of dust fill and animal dung that really pollute the humans traveling on bikes. Secondly huge manholes without covers stare openly at passing by people wondering who will be the next victim. Thirdly electricity poles hang dangerously with their connections very near to the footpath. Any unwary passerby can get a big shock if he accidentally touches these open wires.

Roads are maintained by the municipal corporations of all cities. But the municipal corporations of all cities in Karnataka seems to be for name sake only. They are never seen doing anything for the public. They are just there to collect their revenue in form of octroi, local levies, and of course  the self assessment scheme house tax. They also collect water revenue for the filthy water that they supply once in a fortnight. They also collect drainage cess which they have already collected when our homes are built.

Our homes get old with every passing year and thus they have to be depreciated in value. This is what the rule of auditing says. But surprisingly our corporations increase the self assessment tax on the houses, as if the houses get more value in every passing year. This is totally against common sense, logic, or accounting principles. They also levy hidden taxes under the guise of SAS that they do not really explain to the citizens. For example, they levy 5% of street cleaning tax and 5% of street development tax. But these moneys are already allotted to the corporations in the state budgets. They are already covered in the Chief Ministers allowance. So what is the point in extracting this cess again from the hapless citizens of a city?

BOTTOM LINE.

Its no big deal that highways and bus stops are developed. What the citizens need today is a clean environment in the city, better roads without potholes, and cleaner foot paths without drain water flowing on to them. They also need clean drinking water which does not smell of drainage. Our representatives need to look into this issue and stop taking credit for the highways that get built any way with the blessing of the parliament.