Column

It’s almost impossible to make sense of the plans concocted by Mumbai’s administrators. And, by extension, the damage that has been done to this incredible city.

Everyday, we hear about development plans that counter and contradict each other. A few chief ministers ago - so many have come and gone in recent times and for such truly enchantingly ignominious reasons that it’s hard to keep track - it was decided to strip the municipal authorities of its powers and divide the city into various agencies.

The result of course is the complete chaos that we see now and the haphazard - and dare one say hazardous - way in which the city grows.

Forget cliches about the proverbial ignorance between the left and right hands. Mumbai is now an all-out bazaar where the buyers and sellers have more fun than the kulaks at the onion mandi.

You have one agency building skywalks, another one in charge of flyovers, someone else planning an underground railway that is actually over-ground and someone else altogether building an elevated railway which is also over-ground but not in the same way. All these facilities look skyward and heaven help us when they all meet at some point. A skywalk over a metro rail over a skybus over a flyover? Why not, eh?

Some of these agencies have been building roads from the west to the east of the city for so long that entirely new slum colonies (yummy, yummy, more money to be made from relocation) have come up in the meantime.

The glimmer of hope has come from citizens’ efforts and particularly from the ALMs (advanced locality management) and residents’ associations that have worked very hard to fight for the rights of those who pay taxes. Not surprisingly, they are under constant attack from the authorities who balk at having their authority questioned.

Look at the odd little battle going on in Juhu between the associations and the municipal corporation. The associations in Juhu - who even got an independent candidate elected - have been fighting for open spaces, against encroachment and for improvement of facilities in the area. They have had some measure of success, which has made them powerful.

Now suddenly - is it a coincidence that this official rage just follows residents’ objections to the underground metro becoming overground? - the municipal corporation is locked in battle with Juhu over open spaces. The pathetic plight of open spaces in Mumbai is hardly unknown and the collusion of the authorities with encroachers is no secret either. But what is intriguing is the depths to which the battle for Juhu is plunging. The corporation now wants residents to pay for the pumping station it put up in Irla after the terrible floods of 2005.

So what exactly are the authorities in Mumbai here for? (Don’t tell me to make money, we already know that!)