My wife and I got to in Singapore in the last week of September. This is the season for rains in Singapore, with showers occurring every few hours almost every day. The downpour  is accompanied with heavy thunder and lightning. But we did not notice any waterlogging anywhere in the city. There are no potholes anywhere – not on the main roads, neither in the residential areas nor in the business districts. Daily life continues uninterrupted. Everyone reaches work on time. There is no flooded metro or airport. The dailies are not full of reports on knee deep water on main roads, flooded colonies and no pictures of stranded cars. Not even a photograph of children splashing around in water puddles!

We, from Delhi, feel quite a bit out of place. We are used to a different paradigm. Along with the stories of haplessness of commuters, office-goers and few houses collapsing, we are tuned to reading statements from our municipal officials, elected representatives and ministers about the annual efforts to clean choked drains, about how most were then covered with RCC slabs. The authorities even detail the quantity of malba(garbage) taken out. The newspapers are filled with reports of charges and counter charges about funds being misspent. Then someone drowns in an uncovered manhole and we have panel discussions on TV.

In Singapore, most of the well planned and efficiently designed drains are kept open and clean at all times. Consequently, there is no waterlogging.

In India, our civic agencies spend a lot of time, energy and resources on avoidable activities around the year.

Why aren’t Indian cities like Delhi emulating Singapore’s model of urban management? Why are we bent on reinventing the wheel?

There is an urgent need for introspection by our city-managers. Delhi is not a world class city, as some claim it to be. Let us not delude ourselves. What parameters have been adopted by them who proclaim it world class?

Our citizens are suffering due to the apathy, lack of commitment even knowledge, skill and integrity in most of our city managers. Let us not waste time in avoidable bickering. The urgent need is to stop making Delhi an unlivable city. We all can do it.  Let’s watch and learn from Singapore and other cities which truly qualify to be world class.