Over the last few days, everyone has realised how badly Mumbai coped with the rains and why this has happened. The most beneficial act would be to make this city autonomous with a government of its own which can be held accountable and which can also stake its claim (for a city that donates so much to the central government it hardly gets back what it deserves). Secondly there needs to be some kind of restriction on the amount of migrant population coming to Mumbai; the city is bursting at its seams and till provisions are made to contain whatever population it already has, entry into the city needs to be restricted.
There is a lot of talk about slum dwellers and removing slums. Sure they are a sore sight to our eyes but the city runs on a workforce that does not necessarily live in apartments. The city needs those labourers, those servants, those sweepers. And why should we restrict entry of people just because they are poor. Restrict even the educated or the rich.
And we need to give special attention to that forgotten profession of town planning. Bombay is an architectural nightmare and it is worth looking and learning from the British who built the best parts of the city
