It is the year 2021 and the Lucknow Nagar Nigam under the prolific Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia and Lucknow Smart City has recently inaugurated new dustbins at Lohia Path to promote civic cleanliness. The face of development in Lucknow is progressing swiftly, with the aim of lodging the town's name as one of the fastest-growing cities in Uttar Pradesh but it all comes to a standstill, just a year on as the dustbin heads go missing.

The year 2022, thus, raises a question- one that inquires that if Lucknow's development is state-of-the-art or in the state of falling apart?

The Lucknow Nagar Nigam is on a war footing to implement prime standards of sanitation in Lucknow and in its targetted endeavour to install a robust system, it seems that officials have forgotten about the repairing and maintaining of the infrastructure that already exists:

Several three-set dustbin units were installed along the Lohia Path last year, to uphold the 'segregation' theme of Swachh Surveykshan (2021). Each set, consisted of colour coded bins, in yellow, blue and green to hold wet, dry and medical waste such as masks or gloves, respectively.

Unfortunately, today less than 50% of these installations stand intact. While some have one or more coloured bin missing, others are broken or do not have the covering lid.

And to say it is not just the dustbin heads that are missing from Lucknow streets but also street lights. A complete blackout is the norm at 1090's famous Chatori Gali. Despite being one of the most elaborate street-food junction in Gomti Nagar, the street lights here fail to work, marking a complete blackout here very often.

Usually, the food street picks pace in the evening which cuts down the light-hours here. As the night falls, the street lights here do nothing but tower over the street. The area is shrouded in complete darkness, if not for the neon-signboars of the vendors.

A similar blackout is witnessed across several main roads and service lanes of the city, including the route to Residency, the Charbagh Railway Station Road, Jankipuram Sector 4, Rajajipuram Ward 74 and even Mansarovar Yojna, near Shaheed Path and the road leading to Lohia hospital, from opposite High Court.

Fused lights are becoming rather common in Lucknow. Areas like Sapru Marg, Mahanagar Main Road and the Metro City road, connecting Gomti Nagar to Nishatganj remain in shadows too.

The need of the hour is to bring attention to these civic matters and many more, and get them fixed. Lucknow is on its way to become a Smart City, which is why it is highly important that all initiatives launched in this regard be checked timely to ensure proper maintenance. The public must also adhere to civic-responsible behaviours and join hands with local bodies to create a clean and green Lucknow.