Mumbai a ticking time-bomb

There can be no denying the fact that our city, Mumbai is a ticking time-bomb. Sea locked Mumbai has little space to grow while migration into the city continues unabated. The question that comes to mind is why is this migration happening? Is it a phenomenon restricted to our city?

People migrate to other places in search of better earning potential, for living a better life and for gathering riches which have become reachable due to their education. People seek greener pastures to fulfill these dreams. They head to cities which can provide them with comforts and better lifestyle. This is a global phenomenon and not restricted to our city alone.

Mumbai’s population has grown from a modest 3 million people in 1951 to a present population of 120 million. This 40 time jump has happened in the space of 55 year while the space available for housing people has remained constant. Today more than 50% of this population lives in slums and shanties in sub-human conditions. They have no access to toilets, clean drinking water and in some cases even to electricity. Whatever facilities that are available to them are through a slum-lord who at the connivance of corrupt officials and local leaders provides them with stolen water, electricity and other basic amenities.

The political leadership of the state has failed to provide any relief to these people. Whatever schemes that have been floated to re-house these slum dwellers have ended up benefiting the builders. The unholy nexus between the politicians, builders and the land mafia is primarily responsible for the state of mess that this city is in. Politicians ensure that the land available for housing is always in short supply. The builders corner this land in connivance with the politicians and the land mafia uses brute force to capture government land and raises slums and shanties in connivance with the local government officials and local goons.

So much so that even attempts to spawn sister cities like Navi Mumbai and distant Thane have failed to stem the growth and influx of migrants into the city.

As more and more people end up living in slums, the conditions of these slums is turning worse by the day. Every human being has an inbuilt level of endurance; once this limit is crossed anything can happen. These slums are often beyond any control of any law keeping authorities and are often home to the anti-social elements of the society. Crime and criminals thrive in these pockets. It is not that crime does not happen in high-rise buildings, more often than not rackets like prostitution and drug trafficking involve people from the high society, but the chances of detection of such crimes is much higher in buildings compared to the slums.

Recent events like the bombing in 1992 followed by riots and the more recent train blasts in suburban trains have shown that Mumbai is not only a ticking time bomb but literally a city that is exploding in every sense of the word.

Who then is responsible for this mess? City planners are often tasked with the responsibility of planning the cities infrastructure. The city should be able to handle the requirements of its residents. These include roads, open spaces, recreational areas, water supply, electricity, drainage, rain water management and transport being the major requirements for leading a decent life. The city planners are also tasked with the requirement of demarcating commercial, industrial and residential zones. We see all around us that there has been total failure in all aspects of planning. We have a city where people are commuting from one end of the city every morning to get to their place of work and rushing back in the evening to their homes.

Recent rains have reduced the roads to lunar surface, where there are more pot holes than the road itself. Often it takes more than an hour to travel a distance of even ten kilometers, a task better done in the time of the horse drawn carriage. Government after government has failed to upgrade the city’s infrastructure. Bad planning and lopsided development has lead to catastrophic results. The development of Bandra Kurla Complex which restricted the flow of Mithi river led to the loss of hundreds of life’s in the Kalina Santacruz area during the rains of 2005.

Therefore in conclusion from the facts that I have presented it becomes abundantly clear that Mumbai is indeed a time-bomb ticking away. The day is not very far when people start killing each other in fits of road rage brought about by drivers frustrated by the condition of the roads. The day is not very far when it will become extremely difficult to prevent a second and a third and a fourth bomb blast of the local trains. The day is not very far when power cuts become the norm and people fight over clean water supply.

If the city of Mumbai is to be saved, the unholy nexus between the politicians, builders and the land mafia will have to be broken. And as the Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh said while inaugurating the Metro Rail Project recently, that for achieving progress we have to weed out corruption from the civic body and all other agencies that manage the city. Coming from the mouth of the Prime Minister, this is the solution that this city needs and each one of us should wake up to the malaise of corruption and save this city.