A portion of the roof of the Yadavagiri water reservoir collapsed on the night of 26-5-13. After the photo of the collapsed roof appeared in various newspapers, officials are now getting the roof repaired by covering the hole in the roof by corrugated sheets. VVWW is to be congratulated for prompt action.
But this episode raises a strong suspicion that if the photo had not appeared in the papers, repairs would not have taken place. Exactly the same thing happened two years ago when a portion of the roof of the same reservoir collapsed (on 26-4-11) and repair was started only after photos of the damaged roof appeared in the papers. Did the staff at the reservoir not notice that the roof had collapsed? Or did they not report it to their superiors? Or did the superiors not act on this information until the news hit the headlines? Do the public need to keep an eye on everything?
The same malady seems to affect other departments of Mysore City Corporation and the government in general. Be it leakage of water mains, overflow of sewers, potholes in roads or non-functioning of streetlights, the public has to bring the problem to the attention of the authorities or no action will be taken..Old timers tell stories of officers of the King inspecting the city on horseback every day, identifying problems and ordering action on them without anyone having to complain about them. In the present scenario, these stories appear like fairy tales.
Dwarkanath Narayan, MGP