Clash of the Titans – Rains v/s BMC

Today, the 30^th day of June, 2007, Mumbai witnessed a classic match. It was a real game which involved a highly ineffectual municipal corporation and the fury of the nature. Although the result was more or less predictable, the Rain Gods beat the BMC’s pre-monsoon preparations by leaps and bounds. The rains brought Mumbai off the track. None of the improvements that the BMC had claimed to have done as a part of monsoon preparedness completely backfired. Nothing seemed to work in BMC’s favor.

In addition to this, the Rain Gods had another advantage – the high tide. There was a high tide till 2pm. This meant that the city’s sewage system, which is supposed to be moderately efficient in draining the water to the Arabian Sea, was hapless. The rain water had no place to go and thus what were affected were the low-lying areas of the city. Areas like Milan and Malad subways, Marol, Kurla, Kalina, etc were submerged. It was nostalgic. It was scary! It was just 704 days back (26^th July, 2005) that these areas witnessed one of nature’s most fiery attack on the island city. What more? The conditions were similar – continuous rains, high tide! It was only getting dangerous. To add fuel to the fire, there was an indefinite auto-rickshaw strike. But luckily, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, R.R.Patil intervened and requested to delay the strike till Monday. The union leader agreed. But as many auto-drivers were not willing to put their vehicles at a potential risk of breakdown, very few of them took their vehicles out.

The only relief that Mumbaikars had is that it was a Saturday. Many multinationals had an official off. The offices which are working on Saturday, allowed its employees to stay back at home. So, there was a relatively less commotion and confusion as compared to 26/7. And as the rains started early, 95% of the people did not leave their homes.

The problem that Mumbai faced today is not a new one. It has been happening since the last few years. It is bound to happen for many more years. In spite of BMC spending crores of rupees in improving the drainage system and making arrangements for getting the water out of the low-lying areas, things won’t change overnight. This is because it is not BMC’s inefficiency – it the ill-designed layout of the city. It vociferates the lack of planning while building a city. You never see a flooded street in the town-side. The roads and the structures that the British built 100 years ago are better-planned than the ones built by their desi counterparts even today. Buildings are built over marshy lands and over mangroves. Trees are cut, seas are pushed back, creeks are blocked… the result is what you see of the suburbs of Mumbai. One small rain and the roads are flooded, railway tracks are flooded, and homes are flooded.

I do not see any easy, cake-walk solution to this mega-problem. It may require something like re-structuring of the entire city (which is next to impossible). Or maybe something else. Its upon the genius engineers to think. Till then, every year, year after year, Mumbai will see this match – The Clash of the Titans!