How the International Fleet Review changed Vizag

My article in the Times of India dated 7 Feb 2016

How the International Fleet Review changed Vizag

Our city has recently gone through a transformative change. Several parts of Vizag have gone from ugly to beautiful in a month. Encroachments have been cleared, greenery has been laid, walls have been painted, pavements have been tiled and the city has a clean new look. We must admit that Vizag has never ever looked so bright and shining.

The challenge

Getting an existing city like Vizag spruced up so quickly is not an easy job. Those of us who have got a house renovated realise that every work looks simple until we start. But then things go wrong. Workers don’t turn up, wrong materials are purchased, things break, unanticipated jobs crop up and the journey to completion is never smooth. Old parts of the city that has grown organically over many decades are never easy to fix. Plans were to be made, money had to come in quickly, contractors with adequate human and monetary resources had to be co-opted. To top it all off the IFR imposed a deadline on the city. Considering the challenges even the most die hard critics of Vizag administration will admit that our local bodies such as the GVMC, VUDA, EPDCL, VPT and several others have performed commendably to give Vizag the makeover it required. We Vizagites must graciously acknowledge this superlative effort and applaud our city administrators.

The trickle-down benefits

The extraordinary thing about IFR is that it boosted employment like never before. Thousands of specialist workers were employed; painters, artists, welders, masons, gardeners, electricians, JCB operators and drivers went to work for Vizag. More than 5,000 additional sanitary workers, 2,000 labourers, 1,000 skilled workers, 300 gardeners and many others were pressed into service to spruce up Vizag. Most of these employees are daily wage earners and many were working two shifts a day therefore doubling their incomes. We are told that around Rs. 90 crores was spent on IFR. Estimating that 30% of this expenditure is the labour component we are talking about putting Rs. 30 crores into the hands of around 10,000 workers over a period of two months. This translates to Rs. 30,000 per person over two months. And if two or more members of a family are working we are talking about a substantial increase in family incomes. With increased earnings there is bound to be increased expenditure. Daily wage earners can now purchase things beyond essentials and that means Vizag’s businesses also benefit.

Everyone’s baby

When anyone works on such a challenging project there is an enhanced involvement in the city. The labourer who helped erect a sign board, the artist who hand painted the medians with exquisite floral designs, gardeners who lovingly planted the flowering plants along the road side, the men and women who worked hard to complete the thousands of tasks required to be done before IFR will all have positive feelings for Vizag. As a fall out of this warm feeling, Vizag will benefit from an increased emotional equity. For a population that typically gets left out of the mainstream this is a wonderful thing to happen. As the economy recovers the incomes of this segment of people will improve. An emotional stake in the city will benefit the city and the administration.

Training grounds

Many of us have been severe critics of how our city is run. Yet we have seen it transform rapidly. Was this possible only with money? Did human desire to improve and administrative competence not play a part? Whatever may be the answer it is irrefutable that a task of this nature hones the organisational and management skills of the officials who run our city. They learn to take decisions quickly; they learn to delegate and empower their staff and their technical skills are enhanced. In short they become better managers. With the Smart City funds coming in and more complex works to be done, the administrative and management skills will come handy.

The role of the Navy

Those who command armed forces throughout the world are excellent managers and India’s navy is blessed with especially competent leaders. Their lives and those of ours depend on meticulous planning and steely resolve to achieve targets. It is therefore a wonderful opportunity for civil administration to imbibe these qualities from our navy. While the navy has a powerful command structure and instructions must be carried out any cost, the civilian organisations have to use a softer-softer approach. In its interaction with the civilian administration the Navy would surely have picked up a few points on interacting with civilians in a hectic project environment.

Traffic management and the police

Because the IFR publicity has been so effective and Vizag’s public so enthusiastic everyone wanted to make a beeline to the beach. The bumper to bumper traffic, frequent blockage of traffic due to VIP movement and security drills have disrupted traffic immensely and made road users angry. To add to that special security protocols have resulted in situations where the traffic management looks apparently unreasonable. Everyone knows that lack of information makes people angrier therefore it would help to have improved information on the roads. This would have been a good time to try out FM radio and mobile messaging to help drivers and riders negotiate their city roads better. A little better interaction between police and the public would have gone a long way in assuaging these negative feelings. Yet the police have done a tough job admirably staying out long hours in the sun with hardly any facilities to refresh themselves. Vizagites must reach out to those men and women. Just sending the police in front of your apartment a cup of tea will bolster their spirits greatly.

Bottom line

Much work still needs to be done, many of our heritage sites need improvement and protection; lung spaces must increase and our old city needs urgent re-building. Importantly our public spaces must be accessible for children, the aged and the infirm. The bottom line is that Vizag, a city we all love has benefited from IFR in more ways than one and the journey has just started. When the IFR is over and things are quiet we can go out and marvel at how beautiful our city really is. We must keep our city tidy not only for occasions like IFR but for ourselves, our visiting guests and for future generations. We must resolve to be more engaged Vizag’s affairs as better citizens. The future is in our hands. We Vizagites own this city and won’t let anyone mess with it.