Can I Sue them?

What if the road leading to my locality was as good as it is supposed to be. What if streets and sidewalks around my house were as clean as they should be? What if they had 24 by 7 electricity in my area?

Perhaps then, the value of my plot, house or flat would be higher than what it is. People will pay more to buy a property in an area with good infrastructure, right?

Now, can I use this as the grounds to sue my local, state and central government?

I ride my bike on roads full of potholes. The bumpy ride has given me backaches, and I have been to the doctor several times. In fact, when Pune roads dramatically cracked up during the rains last year, I used to ask every Auto-rickshaw driver – how has this impacted you? More than half said – backaches. And around a third said – damaged bearings or suspensions.

Who is responsible for deteriorating condition of my back (never mind the vehicle)? Can I sue the entity that is supposed to maintain that pot hole filled road?

My TV died due to a recent voltage surge. These surges are common, and usually happen around the power cuts. Who should pay for the dead TV?Can I sue the state electricity board? Can I take them to a consumer court?What do you say? Am I not a consumer for these infrastructure services? I am not asking for entirely new roads, sidewalks or electricity cables. I am asking for good quality in services that I am paying for. Or rather, I am forced to pay for, because in all these cases, the service provider has a monopoly.

May be the courts wont order the service provider (local, state or central government) to pay me any damages because the money will come from the public exchequer. But the courts will at least figure who is responsible. And will make them confess they are unable to keep their word on service quality levels. And then, we will ask them to end monopolies here. If you are unable to spend wisely on roads, don’t do it. Resign from your offices, or pay a private party to do it all – planning, pending, tendering and following up. If you can't distribute electricity efficiently, don’t monopolize that business.

Does any of this make sense? You tell me. The thing that worries me is that some things are not working right. And we don’t exactly know whose fault it is. BMP, BWSSB, BESCOM, BDA, BMRDA, local CMC, state government, central government, and there could be more. And that faulty party is not being made to pay for it.

Have more ideas, anyone?

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