Perpetually a nation of ‘Late Latifs’

Is it a cultural thing? Is it in our genes? Or is it the overall environment? I am referring to our propensity to inevitably land up in a quagmire of delays, shortcomings and chaos in conducting any major public event.

The shame and scandal of the Delhi Commonwealth Games fiasco had hardly dimmed in public memory when we were confronted with another embarrassing kerfuffle about the unpreparedness of the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata for the World Cup cricket match between India and England.

And, as with the CWG mess, the authorities concerned in the Eden Gardens case — the CAB officials — blamed the messenger, ie, the media, for blowing up the issue.

The recent Bollywood film, Band, Baaja, Baraat, brilliantly portrays the contemporary Indian wedding scene with the harried event organisers running about dementedly at the last minute to complete preparations at the venue even as the baraat is at the doorstep.

Much of the same is observed in any public event.

Over the years, time and cost overruns seem to have become part of the public project game. No official is chastised or charge-sheeted, no manager pilloried and no governing politician criticised. The waste is enormous but no one is bothered.

It would be tempting to pass off this dilatory tendency to the fact that we are a tropical country where the heat and humidity induce a languor which negates urgency, and punctuality is no special virtue. Remember the Indian Standard Time jokes?

In fact, one of the cultural training inputs that westerners go through for their Indian sojourn is to avoid being on time for any social event, lest they embarrass their Indian hosts by catching them still amidst preparations.

But our unpunctuality has little to do with the climate. People in Thailand and Singapore are subject to even more sultry and hot weather but do not exhibit our offhanded attitude towards time and are particular about keeping to the schedule, whether it is supplies or project execution.

Having said all this, one must also acknowledge that there are certain peculiar characteristics of the Indian scene that are not in the control of project managements and can lead to tardiness in implementation.

One is the inadequacy and inefficiency of our basic infrastructure, particularly power and transport, which can cause all manner of snafus in supplies and logistics.

A second major cause of hold-ups is the poor state of governance which, when combined with ubiquitous corruption, can foul up the best of plans to execute a project. Exacerbating this is the chaotic element in civic life and a disturbed law and order scenario.

The bottom line is that anything can be held up anywhere at any time.

When it comes to projects or events in the public/government sector, the managers are also hamstrung by a maze of rules and regulations, dos and don’ts, limits of executive powers and constraints, which can paralyse decision-making and ultimately hurt timely execution.

And, constantly hovering, in the back of the honest manager’s mind, is the bugbear of nitpicking audit, which makes him fearful of bending any rule to enable quicker execution.

Let us also not forget perennial political interference, which is a major cause of public projects failing to meet deadlines. This could be as simple as forcing the hiring of inept persons in key positions to favouring certain contractors or suppliers who turn out to be incapable.

If the Chinese can execute major projects in double quick time and organise events smoothly, it is partly because they do not have to face any of these circumstances.

Of course, it goes without saying that if the main aim of the project leadership is to make a quick buck, as in the CWG case, then the project will flounder.

Unfortunately for India, there are very few men of honour and capability left in the government and public sector who can successfully handle giant and complex projects.

What the government should do is set up a specialised Institute of Project Management, of the likes of the IIMs, where giants in the business, like E Sreedharan, who implemented the Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro in time and within budget, can pass on their knowledge to younger acolytes.

That way, a cadre of capable project and event managers can be built up for meeting the needs of India’s development.

The writer is a commentator on public affairs