It’s about time the Thimphu Thromde dispensed with its could-care-less attitude. Altogether.

There was a time when complaints about lack of quality service were few and far between. It, however, doesn’t mean that the service delivery systems were impeccable. Far from it. The people had nowhere to complain.

Thanks to social media and the encouraging growth of traditional media, the people now have found platforms where they can voice their concerns. Because Thimphu is the capital and biggest city in the country with a large and growing number of population, the thromde’s services are talked out often, but not in good grace.

It is appalling that the thromde still finds it convenient to turn deaf ear to complaints and suggestions from the residents. For the many projects that the thromde administration has been able to execute successfully, we thank you. But the thromde can and must do a lot more.

For example, the Thimphu Thromde can focus a lot more on building safe infrastructure in the city and work hard—very hard—to cut corruption in the system root and branch. According to a latest audit report for the thromde, financial mismanagement is one of the biggest issues. Millions of ngultrums are lost in excess, inadmissible, and unnecessary payments to the contractors for the construction and maintenance of roads, drains and footpaths, among others.

But let us look at the city’s roads, drains, and footpaths. Where did the money go? The city roads are filled with potholes. Drains and footpaths are becoming dangerous by the day. There are far too many spots to name them here. Anyway, the thromde administration, we believe, know it all too well even though it chooses to be blind, deaf and least concerned.

Any proof of mismanagement is a sign of poor leadership. The thromde’s aspirations have to grow and efficiency with it.

A couple of days ago, the Fire and Rescue Division of the Royal Bhutan Police were involved in rescuing two bulls that had fallen into an open drain at Motithang. The operation took hours. The bulls rescued and set free, the people began asking serious questions.

Why do we have open drains and ditches at all? Only the thromde can answer. We haven’t heard a word from the office yet.