Each year, the monsoon leaves its foot print behind, to remind the State Government of Maharashtra and BMC to make amends; improve ethics, innovate for better living conditions and change their system to avoid a repeat of their bad performances. In 2006, the deluge brought Mumbai on its knees. The former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh took moral responsibility for the miserable Disaster Management – and then resigned. That was Congress rule, but now it is different.
The present CM was in Nagpur, when heavy rains lashed the city and brought it down to a grinding halt.
This year, the Vasai–Virar belt had severe flooding. Power supply was cut off, train services between the two stations were suspended & people were seen walking on railway tracks. All shops were shut, auto-rickshaws refused to carry passengers and people were running from pillar to post, in search of food; while the CM was calmly holed up in Nagpur, trying to send rescue teams. Remote control?
They eventually arrived, as usual – late; while the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation stood as hapless spectators, unable to do anything. Why? This is because they haven’t done anything worthwhile before, but are in nexus with the builder mafia, on how to grow rich. The same is with the State Government and the BMC’s Ruling Party, which has held the Corporation to ransom for the past 25 years. It is the ‘Marathi Manoos’, who has helped the party to bag the maximum seats in the Corporation – and this is the result of Mumbai’s decay, in every sense of the word. The fact of the matter is that – it is the ‘Marathi Manoos’ himself, who is to be blamed for Mumbai’s degradation.
To add to all this, an unprepared BMC plastic ban – with no proper alternative solutions – is totally ill-timed. Actually, the real issue is the correct disposal of plastic, that is not being addressed by the BMC, not its use. Plastic is a wonderful invention of modern times – creating countless possibilities. So, for their inability to handle plastic disposal, they have found an easier way out – just BAN PLASTIC – and start fining people.
The rains have not spared Bandra, with its fair share of potholes. Roads in the vicinity of Mehboob Studio and Andrews Church were like craters on the Moon. After a hue and cry by residents in that area, the BMC’s H-Ward AMC wakes up to set the record straight – by suspending the contractor and blacklisting him. Isn’t this action too early for the next monsoon? The shameless Corporation announced three months before the onset of the monsoon, that Mumbai was ready. Ready for what? Ready for another disaster? As was the case, all low lying areas continued to flood first, which is nothing new. Every year, we are told that things will be fine, when the low tide returns. The public is waiting, when the high tide will wash away the BMC, so at least we will be spared of the agony and distress, they cause. The BMC Commissioner and the CM must resign and take up better jobs elsewhere, like farming in Nagpur.
So, has Bandra seen the worst of the rains – or more is still to come? In other countries, governments work for the people – but here, it is the other way around. Either a bridge is falling somewhere, a building collapses, resulting in precious loss of life, or a man or a child goes through a gaping manhole and is fished out of the Worli gutter. Enough is enough! The Railways are no better. The British installed our rail tracks almost a century ago – and today’s Babu’s and Mantri’s are using the same facilities to commute people. The collapse of the Andheri Bridge over rail tracks and the Elphinstone Bridge, are best examples of Government apathy and neglect.
If the BMC wants to fine us Rs 5,000/- as part of implementing the plastic ban; how much should we fine the BMC, for injury and death, due to countless potholes? Should it not be Rs 50,000/- per pothole? Or, much more? Drastic action needs to be taken, to stop all this nonsense. Let’s start now.
Amar Singh
