New Delhi, Sep 22 (Inditop.com) Home Minister P. Chidambaram Tuesday told citizens of Delhi that they needed to change some of their bad habits if visitors to the Commonwealth Games next year are to have a good impression about the host city.
“We cannot expect mega city policing to function properly if people do not change their behaviour. We still find vehicles jumping red lights – and police vehicles are not excluded, they too jump red lights,” Chidambram said after inaugurating 22 new police stations in the capital at a function.
“There are vehicles running without registration plates, some are crossing roads where they should not. People are not using overground or underground passes. We want to encourage people to change their mindset,” he said.
Germany during the Football world cup 2006 and China during the Beijing Olympics 2008 had carried out massive exercises to change behaviour of their citizens, the minister added.
“People come to Delhi. This is the capital and we cannot stop people. But if they come to Delhi, they themselves will have to adhere to the behavioural requirement. We must behave as a citizen of a big, good international city,” Chidambram said.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit took the cue and said a campaign will soon be launched to make people in the national capital aware about the need for behavioural changes.
Delhiites’ reactions to home minister’s advise were mixed.
“With the current state of affairs, the perennial traffic chaos and the way people behave are awful. I hope that taking the Commonwealth as an excuse, a change is brought about in the national capital. We shouldn’t do this for the visitors during the Games, we should do it for ourselves,” said Jyanti Narang, a public relations professional.
“What the home minister has said is the truth. Delhiites do need a crash course in public manners. People should take pride in hosting such global events and should showcase the best of behaviour. I hope his candid statements won’t create another controversy,” said Ravi Kumar, a college student.
“Not just Delhi but the whole country needs a crash course in basic manners and politeness. And the change should start from the government officers and politicians. However, talking about changing behaviour in view of the Commonwealth Games sounds ridiculous,” said Chavi Aggarwal, a BPO employee.
