Statescan Cry, my beloved Mumbai!
Monday, May 16, 2022
  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
SUBSCRIBE
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Culture
  • Defence
  • RSS in News
  • Subscribe
Home General

Statescan Cry, my beloved Mumbai!

Archive Manager by Archive Manager
Sep 4, 2005, 12:00 am IST
in General
Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement chairman Sohail Abro

Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement chairman Sohail Abro

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterTelegramEmail


Statescan
Cry, my beloved Mumbai!

By M.D. Kini

Cry, my beloved Mumbai, not for the ravaging floods as they are our annual regular visitors, but for the ravaging troika of politicians, builders and bureaucrats who made it possible. Politicians of all hues want to make money for themselves and their parties, Mumbai be damned! The builders want to make quick money without wasting even an inch of space for drainage and things like that, ecology be damned!

Bureaucrats want to ensure their promotions (and also make some money on the side), by bending, if not breaking, rules and regulations to ensure safe passage for the politicians and the builders. Rules and regulations, like promises made by politicians, are made only to be broken. A former municipal commissioner had once said, politicians used to make five per cent on all contracts earlier, which became 15 per cent at a later stage. A report on Thane Municipal Corporation a few years ago had revealed that about 35 per cent had to be shelled out to politicians and bureaucrats. How can such municipal works stand the floods?

This ravaging troika had the run of Mumbai for years, thanks to gullible voters who elect people of their caste, religion or region, not for development. So, who dumped Mumbai in the floods? The troika plus the voters.

Mumbai could still be saved if people are awakened. If these floods could not do it, nothing else will. Now is the time for all enlightened people of Mumbai to come together and chalk out a plan for its development. There cannot be an island of prosperity in the midst of floods. People of Malabar Hill and Pali Hill may have been saved from the floods, but not from the lack of milk, vegetables and other everyday needs. They never had to suffer much earlier and maybe now as well. They cannot sit in their ivory tower for ever. Sooner they get rid of ?us? and ?them? syndrome, better for all. Let them take notice: If Mumbai falls, all fall down.

And one more thing: Let Mumbai be Mumbai and it does not need any model, Singapore or Shanghai. Mumbai needs a vision where everybody counts and where everybody has a place. A report states that no woman was harassed and many people came forward to help stranded passengers in buses with biscuits and other eatables. An auto-rikshaw driver took care of his passengers in his house. There are many other tales of valour and civility, which should give us hope for the future. Yahi hai Mumbai meri jan!

Now is the time for all enlightened people of Mumbai to come together and chalk out a plan for its development.

JRD and other industrialists had a Bombay Plan for India. Let today'syoung industrialists including film stars, bankers, and others ask themselves. ?What have they done for Mumbai?? They can prepare a Mumbai Development Plan, not a grandiose one but one that gives better civic conditions for its people. Keep to knitting, to use the management jargon. Where there are no new ideas, new visions, people perish either in corruption or in floods or both.

There should be an election immediately for Mumbai Municipal Corporation where the only issue should be what each party is going to do for Mumbai'sdevelopment and nothing else. Let every party come with its own blueprint after consulting the town-planners, ecologists and the common people-drainage, sewerage, water supply, electricity, roadways, etc.

It is a shame that 60 per cent of the people live in slums, not because of the construction cost but because of land cost. It is possible to build houses for the poor people, ask Singapore. A Dutch construction company told me that it could construct two flats per day with its in-situ construction machinery.

Mumbai needs to be de-congested to be saved. Let there be many satellite towns. Let all the wholesale markets be shifted to Navi Mumbai. The daily commuting of millions in north/south direction in the morning and in the reverse direction in the evening can be reduced by shifting all the major government and private sector offices to the suburbs or to Navi Mumbai. Having all jobs in the Fort Area does not add to the efficiency at all. With the telecommunication revolution (mobile, computer, internet, etc) the whole world is a village now. The government can give tax concessions to shift.

Building a Third Mumbai on the mainland would not only de-congest Mumbai, it would develop the mainland. This new city planned in every detail could be the 21st century Mumbai. It should be a self-contained city where people live and work, not commute to work. There could be a banking district, where all major banks can have offices or head-offices, which can become a major financial centre like Hong Kong, Singapore or London. There could be a hi-tech district where technology industry could be located. There could be a biotech district.

All the MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Area) should be one Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation (GMMC). Each district should have an elected small assembly with a mayor. GMMC should be a federation with these mayors as the members who can elect a chairman. All the development projects have to be prepared by an expert committee and monitored by a voters? committee

The final question arises. How to fund these developments? Huge Dalton, economist and former Chancellor of Exchequer in the Atlee government in UK, had given an answer long ago. Problem of public finance is not of raising money but spending it. If the money is well spent, raising funds is not going to be problem at all.

(The author can be contacted at [email protected] or at 133, Bond Street, Bridgewater, NJ 08807.)

ShareTweetSendShareSend
Previous News

Tributes from abroad <br

Next News

India That is Bharat A secular pilgrimage

Related News

PMMY gave opportunity to countless Indians to showcase entrepreneurial skills, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi leads a slew of ambitious water projects to conserve water, secure future

BJP president J P Nadda to interact with 14 Heads of Foreign Missions on today (May 16)

BJP president J P Nadda to interact with 14 Heads of Foreign Missions on today (May 16)

RSS leader Indresh Kumar questions the’ silence’ of political parties over the killing of Kashmiri Pandits

RSS leader Indresh Kumar questions the’ silence’ of political parties over the killing of Kashmiri Pandits

Abdullahs and Muftis destroyed Kashmir’s culture to please Pakistan, says Tarun Chugh

Abdullahs and Muftis destroyed Kashmir’s culture to please Pakistan, says Tarun Chugh

Those scared of removing loudspeakers say they demolished Babri Masjid: Devendra Fadnavis

Will not rest till I bring down Babri-like structure of your power: Fadnavis warns MVA govt

Terrorism conspiracy case: NIA conducts raids at 8 locations in J-K, Rajasthan

Assam police hands over ABT, AQIS terror outfit case to NIA

Comments

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Organiser. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.

Latest News

PMMY gave opportunity to countless Indians to showcase entrepreneurial skills, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi leads a slew of ambitious water projects to conserve water, secure future

BJP president J P Nadda to interact with 14 Heads of Foreign Missions on today (May 16)

BJP president J P Nadda to interact with 14 Heads of Foreign Missions on today (May 16)

RSS leader Indresh Kumar questions the’ silence’ of political parties over the killing of Kashmiri Pandits

RSS leader Indresh Kumar questions the’ silence’ of political parties over the killing of Kashmiri Pandits

Abdullahs and Muftis destroyed Kashmir’s culture to please Pakistan, says Tarun Chugh

Abdullahs and Muftis destroyed Kashmir’s culture to please Pakistan, says Tarun Chugh

Those scared of removing loudspeakers say they demolished Babri Masjid: Devendra Fadnavis

Will not rest till I bring down Babri-like structure of your power: Fadnavis warns MVA govt

Terrorism conspiracy case: NIA conducts raids at 8 locations in J-K, Rajasthan

Assam police hands over ABT, AQIS terror outfit case to NIA

Indian Army unfurls national flag in Galwan valley on New Year

From Ladakh to Northeast, 6 Indian Army Divisions shifted from Pak front, anti-terrorist roles to tackle China threat

Remembering Mahatma Buddha on his jayanti

Remembering Mahatma Buddha on his jayanti

Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s J&K visit: MEA

India registered protest with Pakistan on “targeted killing” of two Sikh traders in Peshawar, Pakistan

Pakistan ambassador to Italy sacked for harassing woman official

Pakistan ambassador to Italy sacked for harassing woman official

  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Business
  • RSS in News
  • Special Report
  • Sci & Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Books
  • Interviews
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Obituary
  • Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Circulation
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies