From law and order to education, from environmental protection to job creation, from traffic operations to water conservation — Ministerial performance and departmental efficiency have touched rock bottom. Present Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee must take his share of the blame, but it is common knowledge that the rot in the administration set in during his predecessor Jyoti Basu’s tenure. If the normally impatient, arrogant Basu was ever disappointed in the failures of his own government, he took good care to conceal his feelings — and failings.

Even as the Central Election Commission officials spend the longest time in West Bengal out of all the states where polls are being held, telltale signs of extremely poor governance turn up wherever they go.

For years, politically backed hardened criminals against whom non-bailable warrants are pending, have not been arrested. Their number: over 75,000! South Bengal districts like East and West Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly and the 24 Parganas North and South are bursting with illegally amassed arms and weapons. These come from Monghyr, from Siliguri and Bangladesh. Routine checks on the Howrah station alone unearthed significant seizures for several days!

As armed hooligans rule by night in areas like Barasat, Usti, Garden Reach and Bhangar, to name only a few, even armed policemen do not dare to venture freely against some gangs. It is not for nothing that for over two years, the state has depended on the strength and ability of paramilitary forces to maintain law and order from Jangal Mahal in the South to Darjeeling in the north. Its own heavily unionized police force has become virtually ineffective.

Unlike their counterparts in other states, the police here can bring to a successful conclusion only around 10% or fewer murder cases registered annually, among the lowest in the land. The state figures highly among areas from where most young girls are illegally trafficked, by politically backed touts and their patrons.

The centre and Coal Ministry circles have repeatedly pulled up West Bengal police for its failure to curb illegal mining in the rich coal belt border Bihar and Jharkhand. Vast areas of land have been reduced to rubble and hundreds of crores of rupees have been lost to the state exchequer as politically backed mafias rule the roost.

For far too long, the Left Front has ceased to govern. Good governance entails rewarding good performance and punishing failures and dereliction of duty. Apart from dutifully increasing the salaries of government, civic and other employees, the LF gave up governing altogether.

Bhattacharjee to be fair, tried to improve things by insisting on punctuality and attendance in 2006, 29 years after the Left had taken over in West Bengal. After his setbacks in Singur and Nandigram in 2007, he lost his nerve and gave up. The state has remained virtually rudderless since then.

Like some deadly cancer, general inefficiency has grown unchecked and affected the work of most departments. It now takes directives from the High Court to get even routine administrative jobs done — such as ensuring the arrest of a wanted criminal, or stopping stolen cars from plying the city streets.

A few random examples:

The High court wants to know while other states have banned vehicles more than 15 years old from plying, what is the situation in West Bengal. Hardly anything has been done. The police have been too busy attending VIP functions and “protecting” leaders !

Even as the secondary exams are on, there have been a leakage of question papers on two days. Outside some schools in Howrah, mobs of unruly students have been shouting out written answers to their friends appearing in the exams, as local police and teachers have looked the other way.

For years, parts of Howrah town have suffered long power cuts as the underwater cables running through the Hooghly river, laid down during British rule, have not been repaired. The Botanical Garden authorities objected against any proposal to repair these. Now the Court will look into the matter and possibly order urgent repairs, as a writ petition has been filed!

From one state-run hospital today, it has been reported that a stray dog had got into the premises and damaged part of its blood saving equipment. The authorities non-chalantly ruled away any action against staff, saying the matter had to be “investigated first “. The catalogue of officially condoned ineptitude is practically endless !

If Jyoti Basu used to “congratulate” government employees for their “hard work and sincerity” occasionally, Bhattacharjee did not succeed with his initially pro-active approach. Now as a lame duck Chief Minister, he barely goes through the motions of activity.

Is there no other Minister or left leader who can breathe some kind of life among government employees? The answer is a firm no. For years, left leaders have encouraged incompetence and insubordination among employees, who turned against their Congress masters and supported the left. The only service they performed was to ensure that everything ran smoothly for the CPI(M).

Now these same leaders cannot turn the clock back and go back on their earlier disruptive slogans, even to save their own skin. Truly a case of being hoist on one’s own petard!

As for Ministers, well, Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, who can at least express himself in English unlike most of his colleagues in Bengal, he may be pulled up for violating the Election commission code of pre-poll norms .

Old timers recall occasions when left leaders told public meetings that they were running a ministry only to show that the present” system” did not work , they stood for wrecking the Constitution from within.

By a supreme irony of fate, post May 13, they may just end up wrecking themselves first, while system will remain. (IPA Service)