The problem with us folks in Mumbai is we just keep opining and do nothing. Its about time people got together appointed a legal advisor and took the admin to task. Stop paying taxes, Stop offering bribes, The honest taxpayer suffers the most. Let us come together and fight for our rights. Anybody cares??
I dont know why people are going on blaming BMC for what happend in Mumbai. In Oct 2000, i was a student in Miami, FL and we had to walk in waist deep water because there was a cloud burst during high tide, when sea water back-flows into the drainage system and there is no outlet for the storm drain. To add to that, drains were blocked there too. I am not saying BMC is the best and the most modern municipality in the world but still there is very little that can be done. I have seen pot holes in US too. I would say our metros have the same quality roads as anywhere in the world if not better. I agree that quality hasnt reached smaller town or outer parts of our metros but things are changing. Nagpur has very nice roads now, Mangalore does too. And remember that it was the highest rainfall ever recorded in 24 hours anywhere in India. Now you put all this together with the fact that our road side drains either dont exist or are always clogged, (Indus Valley was the first civilization to have road side drains) Roads act as channels to take the water to low lying areas. With so much development happening, water has no ground to seep into, so it will travel the path of least resistance
Last month's torrential rain cuased a heavy loss of human life and physical possessions. All this happened due to ill planned reclamation of the Sea, the "so called" wastelands, salt pans, river beds, unauthorised constructions, conversion of land for non-agricultural use, indiscrminate mining in the hills for stone and soil.
Rulers/Leaders of all political parties have participated in the above mentioned actvities with unabated support from the "Builders Lobby"
Whatever happened due to deluge cannot be repaired 100% but the impact can be reduced in future by trying to restore the natural drainage system as far as possible. This will certainly require strong political willpower supported by equally strong administration and citizens, willing to make sacrifices wherever and whenever required.
Well many would say that what has already happened in Mumbai is a shame and would start blaming the govt. But Dear ctizens we live in a democracy, blaming the governement would mean blaming ourselves... So its high time we learn from our mistakes and do whats the need of the hour i.e. lets make it clear to the government that : 1. The govt. should stop Building residential and commercial facilities presently and look towards supporting the infrastructure that already exists i.e. build proper roads, drainage and communication backbone. 2. We as citizens must be the true authority of supervising the same i.e. we should make it clear that this time we have lost 1000 bretherns but next time if we loose even one the,....you know better.
Lets face it...the fight is ours not the govts alone. We need to make mumbai a better place to live in.
Its time we said enough is enough! Its time we realize that we dont deserve to live in the kind of environment we live in. Its time we realize that the taxes we pay, are not being used for their intended purpose. We pay the BMC property taxes, in return for a service. Its like paying a property management company to maintain your residential building/ society/property, this is only on a much larger scale. Its time we realize that we are not getting our moneys worth, and that we need to fire our current Property management company (read The BMC) and hire a new one, because they have failed to do their job, miserably! We need a new system! The BMC is corrupt, inefficient, lethargic and incompetent. We all know it, and we keep saying what I just said, but I guess saying it doesnt actually help. Its time to act!
The people of Mumbai have become used to or rather immune to living in filth. We are used to bad roads, insane traffic, potholes, bad footpaths, (or in many cases no footpaths at all!) encroachments on roads, footpaths & public property, open garbage... all in all bad infrastructure, and filth around us.
- Elected the govt. - Bribe Govt. babus - Use our city as Dustbin, spit everywhere, litter everywhere - Create traffic by nonsense Driving and Parking - Try to move ahead in life by steping on others, like wild animals - Dont have any civic sense - Do illegal construction and let others do the same - Want all the facilities in life without caring about environmental eefects of the same - Tolerate encroachments - Do not care about anything when it does not affect you directly - Like to write solutions on websites but will never put those solutions in action in your life
consider above points and ask yourself, WHO IS TO BLAME ?
Only solution to all the problems in Mumbai and infact India as a whole is to 1) EDUCATE EVERYBODY which will create civic sense 2) Treat fellow citizen with respect 3) Make sure your neighbourhood is safe, clean and healthy and remains that way
It in our hands to make sure such incident/ tragedy never happens again.
A city which pays more than 30% of Total National revenues collected? A city which attracts maximum FDI? A city which is undoubtedly the Economical Capital of India? A city where every Indian dreams to stay in?
Same is the city which was down because of an unexpected calamity for more than 3 days? Water logging at almost every area of the city, no electricity in most of the areas, no water supply, phone lines not working, people literally swimming to reach home, people spending nights in their car and some of them getting killed in the car because they they could not come out of the car.
It seems to be impossible but it really happened & I am ashamed to be a citizen of Mumbai!
Worser things are happening in daily life but are just unnoticed, I would just like to brief out some points:
The road going to Airport has to be the best road without traffic and pot holes, but you'll find maximum traffic and huge numbers of pot holes on the road going to Sahar Airport. FDI in India when we are portraying such a shabby image? Starting a business takes 3 months in India, compared to US its 18 times more?
God Bless Us! Its just we people who can change things! Wake Up!!
Majority of casualty has been for folks living in Slums. Slums are built as Mumbai did not provide affordable living options. Also, other reason is development without any public participation. Here are 2 steps from US model that may be applicable,
1. In new Development, a percent of houses must be given to low income families. In mumbai, that can be as high as 50% in slum areas.
2. Any new development must be approved by local town board, which has been elected by local residents.
I think, above two steps are crucial in making Mumbai better city.
Better foundation paves the way for strong soaring build up.Building a house with sand in sea shore will be washed away at any cost.In order to retain the position in the competitive world, basic amentities are must.To have a better foundation, government should spend the currencies for all Indian people instead of party people. A man who survives in the difficulties is the leader.To be an economic leader in nearby future sew the seeds from nowonwards.
