Save Mumbai from its guardians

What made Mumbai a great city — and I use the past tense deliberately — was not just its cosmopolitan nature or its bindaas attitude. As much credit must go to discipline — of the people and the administration.

Those who were born before 2000 know that corruption is not a new feature of Indian life, invented to make TV news channels hysterical.

But compared to the rest of India, Mumbai worked — and this included government offices. Traffic rules were followed.

People queued at bus stops (don't laugh). The city ran smoothly and this contributed to its reputation for professionalism. It seems a bit like a weird dream now, when you consider the deterioration of the past 20 years.

A good part of this had to do with the municipal commission and the police. The well-being of the city came first and the desires of politicians came second.

Of course, there were a few crimes and misdemeanours amongst our babus but that was the exception rather than the norm.

So, now you have the spectacle of a former municipal commissioner being investigated for his role in the Adarsh scam. Two decade ago, he would have been the guy catching the crooks, now it appears that he is one of them.

The death of Sheela Kini brings up reminders of the terrible collusion between politicians and the police to suppress her husband's murder in 1996 to suit a political figure. The rewards for public servants were enormous — the top posts in the police.

Does anyone remember the municipal commissioner and the police commissioner after the devastating 2005 floods in Mumbai making huge promises on television about how such a disaster would never happen again?

Does it surprise anyone that almost six years later those promises have been exposed as hogwash? The two went on to higher posts and then retired, secure in the knowledge that they would be saved by their political friends.

The idea of the sea link to connect Andheri to Nariman Point is decades old. The part built — from Bandra to Worli took 10 years to complete.

The city has changed since then. But what has not changed is the fact that the length of the city on the western side and part of the eastern side runs by the sea. What stroke of genius did it take to decide a coastal road would be more cost-effective than a bridge in the middle of the sea?

The British — though it kills me to say this — did build Marine Drive as well as Hornby Vellard by reclaiming land.

What has happened in the past few years is that Mumbai has been violated by its administrators and by its citizens who watched it happening. If the city is to survive, perhaps we need rededicate ourselves to protecting it from its so-called guardians.