Central Hall – Submerged In-action!

Mumbai: The deluge in Mumbai and its choking have become so synonymous with every monsoon season, that the clichéd words ‘Mumbai Spirit’, ‘the city that never sleeps’ etc have become pointless. It has also become pointless as to who should appropriate the blame for the urban squalor that is Mumbai.

For the power brokers it hardly matters as to who is in power or not and who’s been ruling for how long. As long as the hoi polloi do not grumble at the breadcrumbs of development that are thrown at them, then it is fine.

A simple incident of a water supply pipeline bursting due to a landslide at Kemps Corner due to a tree falling down at Hanging Garden in the VVIP, upmarket area of Malabar Hill and the resultant water cut, forcing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) municipal commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal rushing to the spot in the dead of the night to supervise the restoration work, speaks volumes of for whom the bells toll!

When it comes to any elections the voting percentages in these upmarket localities is abysmally low, but would get their way through their contacts in the administration which is always at its beck and call. Hope the flooding serves as a wakeup call for these VVIPs.

It is altogether a different matter and quite alarming that the heavy incessant rains of last week for the first time in the history of South Mumbai, did areas like Girgaum Chowpatty, Parsi Colony, Colaba and others witnessing heavy flooding.

For the first time flood waters breached the gates of famous institutions like Wilson College or Marzban Parsi Colony at Bombay Central. The incessant heavy downpour for days left a trail of destruction in the streets of South Mumbai which were littered with uprooted trees.

Also Read: Central Hall – Educating Governments!

It was surprising and rather ironic to find the Greens who raised their hackles over the Metro 3 car shed project in Aarey Milk Colony were conspicuous by their absence in the aftermath of this environmental disaster. The usual whipping boy, the Metro Rail was habitually blamed.

Noted architect, town planner and former Congress MLC, Anant Gadgil for some decades now has been crying hoarse as rapid urbanisation and concretization has led to open spaces, gardens vanishing in buildings and on the roads. With tree roots being cemented, concretization of roads and open spaces it has increased surface water flows and an increasing number of trees getting uprooted in the monsoons.

Mumbai has one of the highest population densities on a tiny geographical area in the world which cannot bear such enormous pressure exerted by the urban density.  Moreover, the city storm water drainage system is not geared to deal with large volumes of storm water, besides this the natural holding ponds have vanished and given rise to skyscrapers.

Research into urban planning by institutions like IIT Bombay and Neeri, have pointed fingers at the glass façade of tall skyscrapers that is creating heat spots in some parts of the city, which in turn is causing increased precipitation and flooding.

Gadgil has been calling for taking off the pressure of urbanisation from Mumbai by creating satellite cities within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and within the triangle of Mumbai, Pune and Nashik. All this will require rapid means of public transport, affordable housing, recycling of urban waste and reducing carbon footprint.

What is baffling is the fact that the BMC is one of the cash rich civic bodies in the country and has an envious budget that surpasses even budgets of some states in the country. One fails to understand as to why then the city has to suffer. The reason for this ‘In-action’ is due to the apathy shown by people themselves, the administrators and the rulers alike.

As effects of global warming begin to show their effects in the form of flooding in hitherto unknown areas like South Mumbai, it is the Mumbaikar, the bureaucracy and the rulers alike are equally to be blamed for the ‘In-action’ and the resultant misery and urban decay.