As you throw, so you weep

First up, a warning. A nasty bug has laid me low for the past few days. It’s the kind of viral infection that leaves little scope for good cheer, and the situation has been exacerbated by all the stuff I’ve been reading – in newspapers and on the web – about Mumbai’s travails during this monsoon. So yeah, this is going to be a bit of a rant.

Videos of garbage being returned to Mumbai’s shores by the sea are all over the internet. It’s not the first time this has happened. Images of waterlogged Mumbai are also all over the internet. It’s not the first time this has happened. Buildings have been falling. Not the first time this has happened. Trains stopped running because of heavy rainfall. Not the first time this has happened too.

I’m running out of breath, but there’s more. Many people have died, several falling into open manholes, the sea has breached walls and embankments (Breach Candy Club remember?), road surfaces resemble craters on the moon (nothing describes it better than this timeless cliché), life in the city came to a standstill on several days leading to loss of productivity, school and college education, health care etc.

None of this has happened for the first time, so what is the complaining about you might ask? But that’s precisely the dangerously fatalistic position that has brought things to this sorry pass. This must be challenged as it makes accountability of the civic administration (as well as us) to lapse, all blame being passed on to “forces of nature”.

Mumbai’s monsoon is harsh, at times brutal. But why should devastation occur every year is the crux. Los Angeles is an earthquake-prone area. So buildings and infrastructure have been – and are being – modified to adapt to tremors. It doesn’t mean that nothing disastrous ever happens. Japan too is extremely earthquake prone.

But unless it is a really major quake, everyday living is hardly affected.

Life and habits in cities cater to this trust in everyone’s safety. Such trust is hard earned.

Damage limitation stems from experience and is based on knowledge, foresight and common sense and above all, commitment for the good of the people.

For instance, if the BMC prepared roads before rains began well in time, occurrence of potholes might be minimised, though torrential rain may still lay waste the best plans. Key is that effort should be sincere and consistent, showing improved results year-on-year.

If muck that is cleaned from the drains is removed before the rains begin, there is less chance that it will be pushed back into the drain and clog the roads. Simplistic, but common sense has sterling virtues.

This is also where people of Mumbai – and most cities in the country – are failing in their duties. The amount of rubbish we throw out is mind-boggling. One weekend this monsoon, 15 metric tonnes of garbage was returned from the seas to Mumbai’s citizens! As you throw, so you weep.

Young Afroz Shah’s efforts to clean up Versova beach had exposed the utter lack of civic sense in people even earlier. But why should such effort be restricted to one passionate activist?

The corollary to this is if one person can be so transformational, what prevents a behemoth like BMC to do far, far more?

Mumbai reels miserably in the monsoons (it used to be the best season for the city), because of shoddy planning and half-hearted implementation.

Ecological concerns found voice in the world more than half a century back. In the last three decades, climate change is becoming a serious factor in the well-being of not just cities, but the planet.

Awareness of these issues is admittedly rising in the civic administration, but needs urgency and heft of more knowledge.

Gigantic infrastructure projects are grandly announced. These are, of course, needed from the state and municipality for the city to evolve. But unless preceded with hard-nosed, diligent understanding of repercussions, it could rebound badly.

There is an argument that “activists” are trying to stop Mumbai’s progress. That may be true in some cases, but the bigger problem is urban planners being sucked into the greed of politicians and other vested interest groups and abdicating the need for holistic, sustainable development.

Hyperloops and bullet trains are fantastic, but if two days of rainfall brings virtually everything to a halt then all citizens can do is get “hyper”. And not in a nice way!

First Published: Aug 08, 2019 23:21 IST