f you think that the local bodies election is all about the verbal duels between political party leaders or heated debates about controlling the street dog population or solid waste management, you are mistaken. Although sparring by politicians on and off TV screens or localised debates on dogs and dirt have dominated the poll scene, there are other pressing issues troubling people in the urban and rural parts of Kerala.
Dry taps, for instance, is a matter of greater worry for denizens of all the major urban locales of the State, be it Kochi or Kozhikode. Service delivery is another, people of the State capital in particular being victims of official apathy and delays in getting licences, clearances and certificates. For people of Kannur, the latest entrant into the league of Corporations, the absence of good roads is as much a matter of worry as the dogs that roam the streets, triggering panic attacks and controversial culling missions. Admitted, drinking water supply is not the primary lookout of the urban local body, but when it comes to ensuring supply of water, the local body cannot look askance and the people are not going to keep quiet when the taps remain dry for weeks and the only people they get to see are the Corporation councillors.
In Kochi, several divisions in western parts of the city are hit by severe water shortage. Equally hit are areas such as Thevara, Konthuruthy, Vennala, and Edapally. In Kozhikode, street lights that fail to turn on even after nightfall, drinking water shortage and the perceived arrogance of officials are matters that agitate the voters. If people are asked to prioritise these three worries, most people zero in on the attitude of the Corporation’s bureaucracy and many insist that they are a law unto themselves.
For the people of Kannur, the problem goes deeper with the people anxious about the contours of the Kannur master plan, which had been approved by the outgoing municipal council and the State government had approved it. The major bone of contention in the master plan is the proposal for widening roads, something on which neither the UDF nor the LDF have made any firm commitment in their manifestoes.
For the citizens of the State capital, lack of any visible improvement in service delivery remains one of the key problems. e-Governance has been a buzz word for city administration for long, but elimination of paperwork is still a long way away. Consequently, long queues are the order of the day at the Corporation’s main office as well as at the zonal offices. Roads, once again, are the main issue in Kollam. For a city that is on the growth path, Kollam does not have wide and safe roads, especially for the physically challenged and the elderly.
