Mumbai flood, accountability and passing the buck

Image sourced from Google.

We were taught our lessons the hard way in the older days by a tough master who spanked us down the bum that made us diligent students.  Times have changed. No quite so for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The same administrators who want to turn the financial capital of India, Mumbai into Shanghai has simply lost the art of learning. It makes me wonder from whom the BMC, albeit, rulers of the city elected by the people, learned the A-Z of administration.

There is no excuse to justify the crumbling of infrastructure in the city brought to its knee on 30/8 when 30 lakhs commuters were stranded for an entire day and devoid of food or water.  The BMC is the richest body in Asia with a budget of Rs 94.91 crores in 2016-17 alone and they simply cannot pass the buck or pretend it is business as usual. While we didn’t face a repeat of July 2005 when more than 1000 lives were lost and 944 millimetres of rain were recorded in the city, it could have been completely worse in Mumbai with just one third of rain. Everything was paralyzed.

First and foremost, be it the helpline number 1916, fire brigade and all emergency numbers were choked and went for a toss as reported by the TV channel, Mirror Now coupled with the complete lack of facilities. There was raging chaos. It’s a matter of shame that it’s the commoners who mounted help on a colossal scale through Facebook and Twitter by publicly offering their phone number to shelter, arranging food provisions, rescuing people stuck in the rain or issuing advisory while political administrators simply went out of sight. It is the people that make The Spirit of Mumbai. A grand salute to the commoners who went all their way to help people, be it the cops, Navy, NGOs or women organizations or religious organizations who pulled all strings, and fearlessly strode their way to occupy every space in the city.  A special salute to the Mumo Mumbai moms that boasts of more than 1.4 lakhs members on their FB group and some 2,500 ladies, which a friend Neha Kare was part of, offered their personal mobile number to help citizens. It makes me in awe of Mumbai and its people who never shied to help in the face of calamity.  The spirit of the city is all about the people and not rhetoric of pandering to political emotions. A complete revamp of infrastructure should be insisted upon.

Secondly, the lack of drain facilities, the careless manhole dug and potholes claimed lives. It seems like a déjà vu of 2005. This time, a doctor slipped inside the manhole that was uncovered and lost his life or for that matter, a young man choked inside his car because of the rising tide.  My friend’s husband like many commuters was stuck inside the local train for 18 hours, just to give an example. Who will be accountable for such dangerously lapses? It’s high time for the BMC to become accountable in the face of tragedy and as a world-class city, we cannot afford the infrastructure in Mumbai or any other Indian city to fall apart like that.

Image credit: Google

Every day, people flock to Mumbai to make a living and it takes a huge toll on the city due to the dearth of quality infrastructure or housing. There is a lack of provisions to expand the city reach and creating vast spaces coupled with quality of life which is the need of the hour to avoid tragedy.  There is no point to mount a statue of Shivaji Maharaj worth Rs 3,600 crores when one third of that money could have gone to sort out the mess in the city and give the citizens state-of-the-art and safe infrastructure.  On Wednesday, we witnessed how disaster management control room went clueless in the face of adversity.

Thirdly, every time the mighty rain strikes, lives are lost and humans buried under risky buildings crushed like biscuits like the 117-year-old Hussaini building at Bhendi Bazaar. According to reports, there are 25,000 dilapidated structures proned to risk in Mumbai. It makes one wonder on the state of such building spread in every nook-and-corner of the city. For instance, The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) is responsible for the maintenance of the buildings and it begs the question whether a structural audit has been done by the latter or for that matter, offering alternative and safe accommodations for the people whose lives are in jeopardy. The city has reached a saturation point.  What we need is not throwing people out but court action against the culprits such as corrupt officials who are often in cahoot with unscrupulous builders violating Floor Space Index.

The role of the BMC is not to send notices for breeding of mosquitoes but be accountable to the tax payers and the people.  What have we learned 12 years later? Zero. Zilch.  The sad part is that it’s not just in Mumbai and Delhi but also in other parts of India such as Chennai , UP, Bihar, Uttarakhand or J & K. Life cannot go on like that be it Mumbai or any part of India.

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