15.6.08

The Mumbai Makeover Mess

Mumbai is politically orphaned. It’s parentless because in our political system, that’s fond of socialism and practises worst form of capitalism, any one seen doing anything for Mumbai is considered “pro-rich” and faces the danger of antagonising the vote base. The irony is that almost all eminent leaders have a home in Mumbai but the city has no one to fight for its cause. The first attempt to revive Mumbai’s fortune was made in 1995 when the Shiv Sena-BJP got a chance to rule the state. The state’s first pure non-Congress government undertook many infrastructure projects for Mumbai, besides raising 55 fly-overs in its tenure. But the electoral defeat in the subsequent Assembly election sent the saffron combine back into the shell. The saffron siblings since then have not talked about Mumbai’s infrastructure. The Sena raises Mumbai issues, but it’s largely rhetorical .The second attempt to spruce up Mumbai was undertaken by the incumbent CM Vilasrao Deshmukh in his second inning. Soon after taking charge in October 2004, he launched a massive clean-up drive that saw as many as 95,000 illegal structures and encroachments being removed in two weeks. All well-meaning, tax paying citizens of Mumbai with a dream of clean, walkable foot-paths in mind were beginning to rally around Mr Deshmukh. But the dream was not to be fullfilled. A message from the high command not only halted the drive but also forced the state government to promise them a legitimate rehabilitation. Now Vilasrao Deshmukh talks about Mumbai Makeover with everyone on board. Unmindful of its failures, both the state and the Central governments are selling International Finance Centre (IFC) dream to Mumbai. Since the committee headed by Oxford-based development expert Percy Mistry in its report submitted in April 2007 packaged the idea of making an IFC in Mumbai, everyone is ecstatic about the city’s prospects. But what’s the situation on Ground Zero? The committee has pointed out many problems — crumbling housing and dilapidated buildings; poor road connectivity, over-loaded rail network, complete absence of water transport, missing arterial high-speed roads/urban expressways; poor quality of airports and air-connectivity, inadequate provision of power, water, sewerage. Mumbai is found wanting even in areas such as education, healthcare and hospitality. Some 15 months after being presented, all has been forgotten. The report is gathering dust along with many such such prepared earlier. Mumbai perhaps continues to live on its past laurels

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