Mumbai's Terrible Tuesday has opened up a Pandora's Box. It got me thinking as well...
When I first came to Mumbai, I was as impressed by its buildings as I was depressed by its filth and squalor. Over a period of time however....I've also been blinded to the muck I've been living in over these years. I'm sure, everybody goes through the same motions.
The fact remains that this city, as all Indian cities, has absolutely no respect for nature and its resources. We've cut down trees, encroached over the waterways, bulldozed hillsides, flattened everything that we can reach for the sake of constructing that extra "building".
While doing all this, we've ensured that we have maintained our slimy chawls, slums (thats where we win our elections from) and narrow bylanes (Mumbaiyas happen to call them "Roads").
What we term as "infrastructure" would barely classify as "run-down" elsewhere in the world.If its weren't for its people, Mumbai would have long been labelled as a necropolis model to be eschewed.
And to make a mockery of things....we have some half-brained idiots strutting about with a "Shanghai" dream. Grow up folks.....Daydreaming is not gonna get us anywhere....
We need a radical solutions. Piecemeal changes do not serve our purpose and in turn out to be costlier in the long run. I really despise the sight when I see a construction/repair or cleaning of a small drain, relaying a road which was laid just a couple months back, redigging the road for laying cables which was laid just few days back.
What is the cause - a. Lack of coordination among various agencies responsible for city's administration b. Administrative units looking at areas larger than they can handle. c. Investing in small scale projects in an attempt to fix a local problem rather than investing on a total solution
What we need - a. We need a template for what developed and well maintained area looks like. Build one and deploy it everywhere. This should be used for roads, traffic signs, drainage systems, power/water distribution, telephone lines, internet lines, gas supply, cable TV lines etc etc. b. Unbundle all of the above and let private contractors compete for them and make them follow the above standards. c. Invest into large scale infrastructure improvement projects then relaying a worn out metalled road whose foundation itself is bad.
For India's future- Mumbai must compete JUST NOW with Shanghai to attract investors to India .
There is no need for new posts(CEO or statehood) when the existing leaders JUST NOW don't contribute anything to upkeep a city which raises a 40% of India's taxes.
From PM to MPs, all leaders could agree to spend pro - rata 40 % of their working time JUST NOW in the streets of Mumbai-demanding total perfection from Municipality & Civil Engineers.
If the current onslought of refugees can't be stopped , then Mumbai must get a share of the budgets of states which only generate refugees.Budgets must be drawn JUST NOW( at pro rata 40 % of total)so that Mumbai can deliver on the big challenges of India.
Why Mumbai alone? All the four cities are facing the problem of overpopulation. To tackle this , it is not sufficient to just improve the infrastructure. The small towns should also be developed. Companies should be made to operate from such small towns. Governence , improvement should be thought about for country as a whole.
Well We can fight and prepare ourselves for such disasters its need a good planning and well control on administration of BMC.
Rehabiliate the Slums of Mumbai to suburbs with Minimum Areas as per SRA.
remove the encrochement near drainage, rivers , nallahs and Railway Tracks and strict rules to be made if encrochment takes place again after removal the ward office is responnsible and suspend them immediately once or 2 if Govt. will take action everythign will fine.
we have to make a special rules for peoples who caught under corruption and punishment to be decided not by court may be by vigilance commission or by a higher authority.
BMC and other authority to seat together like Power Supply agency Gas supply agency and make a plan for their pipelines and cable lines, so they can do their work without harming the roads and drainage everytime,
make an authority who is responsible for management and if he fails decide a punishment for that.
I was born and brought up in Mumbai and and have lived all of my 39 years in this great city.while I am naturally attached to this city because of this long association, I feel really saddened after nature's fury crippled Mumbai. like all my fellow mumbaikars i too initially blamed BMC,the Government, builders etc. but on introspection i realised that if only we had been little more responsible perhaps we could have atleast lessened the impact if not averted.we have little civic sense symbolised by our spitting and littering public places, our dependence on plastic packets.our attitude towards our environment also needs a drastic change.in future we as public can work together with government in formulating plans for garbage disposal,environment protection etc. then only we can save this great city.
If We are going to have croes of people living in a city like Mumbai,Where basic Infrastructure can't support fast evacuation,we are going to have problem with rain or storm or any emergency.
First question comes to me is,in INDIA why we need 40 story flats,do we have any shortage of land,then divide city into zones like industrial,housing,commercial,transportaion.. this can reduce mess like over sweage,traffic jam.This can help a city like mumbai in a war situation.
Solution may need sacrifice from people living in bombay.
