Delhi faces tough task of being a perfect host

As Delhi races against time to complete all unfinished tasks ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, it faces a daunting work of inculcating civic sense among Delhiites, generally known for being rude and inhospitable.

Even the Union home minister P Chidambaram had to ask the residents to "behave as citizens of a big, good international city".

His appeal followed Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit's announcement that her government would launch a campaign to "change the way the society behaves so that it becomes more caring and also sharing".

Germany and Beijing also underwent a change in the way people behaved before hosting major sporting events.

However, the advices seem to have not convinced many Delhiites who are expected to receive about 1,00,000 tourists and 9,000 athletes and officials from the 52 Commonwealth countries during the Games.

Many fear that the visitors will take back to their home memories of piles of rubbish, men spitting and urinating in public, rickety transport services and rude taxi drivers.

"I have a lot of good experiences in Delhi, but I find the people are little aggressive and careless," said Red Constantino, head of ADB Forum, a Manila-based NGO monitoring ADB funding in South Asia. "I have observed that people often ignore traffic rules, and spit and litter in public places and jump to an argument if being objected," Red told PTI.

"It is hard to ignore the fact that this city which has a wealth of historical treasures is treated very poorly by many of its inhabitants," he said.

Renowned columnist Santosh Desai has similar views on Delhiites who according to him are more aggressive than any other city.

"I’ve seen drivers almost kill themselves attempting to block someone else getting into traffic," Desai said.

According to Red, asking a Delhiite to not to use their car horn is like asking others to not breathe.

MP Singh of Institute of Pubic Health and Hygiene (IPHH), a city-based NGO, blamed it on lack of responsibility among the drivers.

"This seems to be a major area, which even the Commonwealth member countries want Delhi to look into ahead of the sporting event," he said, citing high commissioner of Mauritius M Choonee's concern on Delhi's traffic chaos.

"Delhi drivers are very bad. They do not drive in lanes. Please ask them to drive in lanes," Choonee had told the Indian officials during a recent meeting of heads of missions on security arrangements for Commonwealth Games.

Commissioner of police (traffic) SN Srivastva, meanwhile, said to address the problem, they have taken several measures, including a new "motorcycle squad that will chase and prosecute the offenders.

"But, only by force you can’t bring in a revolutionary change," said another senior official. Regarding cleanliness, the  Municipal Corporation of Delhi recently approved a legislation that calls for a penalty of up to Rs200 — three times that of the existing penalty — for those found littering, spitting and urinating in public and other such offences.

But, people appear fearless and keep on spreading the filth across the city. "Look at the corners of any staircase of high rise building, you can find those coloured red," says IPHH's Singh.

The activists, however, said fines won't work as effective deterrent. People's mindset needs to be changed and that can be possible through extensive awareness drives, they suggested.

Anil Prakash, MCD director (Sanitation), also agrees to it and says: "We have to tell people in advance that they would be fined a certain amount of money if they were caught emptying their bladders publicly."

Apart from that, many foreigners complain of being misbehaved, groped and even pinched while walking through busy market areas and tourist places. There were also attacks on them.

Most recently, a British teen-aged girl, who was part of 29-member tourist group, complained that a tourist guide attempted to rape her at a guest house in the national capital last week.

Admitting it as a major problem in the city, a Delhi police official, without wishing to be named, said "it is not possible for them to guard the entire city all the time".

Among all this, the authorities are confident that they will make the sporting extravaganza run smoothly. But, it is for the residents to rise to the occasion and prove them wrong who question their attitude.