26/7 still a bad dream for city
Two years after it almost drowned, Mumbai offers a contrasting climate on the second anniversary of 26/7.
By TNN |
MUMBAI: Two years after it almost drowned, Mumbai offers a contrasting climate on the second anniversary of 26/7. Far from the cloudburst that killed close to 500 people on that terrible Tuesday, Mumbai this year would experience a dry day, according to the weather department.
But the images of flooded roads, abandoned local trains, a menacingly flowing Mithi river, and incessant showers that poured 944-mm (or close to 3 ft) of water in 24 hours are still fresh in Mumbai’s collective psyche.
On the second anniversary of 26/7, the city is far from being safe. A lot remains to be done to prevent a repeat of the deluge even if it rains less than 500 mm. That the city is hardly equipped to tackle the monsoon menace was all too evident when the city received more than 300 mm rainfall earlier this month.
“This is because, except for the unprecedented and record high rainfall, all the factors that caused the calamity are still lurking around,” said an official. The deluge not only shook the state government in July 2005, but alerted the Centre to the awful infrastructural inadequacies that Mumbai suffers from. Yet, precious little has been done to rectify the glaring loopholes even after two years.
A spate of projects has been announced by the state and the Centre, but only few have materialised. The irony becomes all the more starker considering the fact that a similar political combination is ruling the state and the Centre.
Post-July 26, 2005, the state chalked out a grandiose Rs 30,000-crore plan to overhaul Mumbai. Some projects like the cleaning of Mithi river, Brihanmumbai storm water drain (Brimstowad) upgradation, and Mumbai sewage disposal scheme were proposed.
The other projects like Mumbai Metro rail, Nhawa-Sewri transharbour link, Mumbai Urban Transport Project, and Mumbai Urban infrastructure Project were on the agenda even before July 2005, but got more prominence after the deluge.
However, very few of the overhaul plans have taken off and little money has come from the Centre even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh makes it a point to mention Mumbai makeover as one of the ambitious tasks before the UPA government.
For instance, the Centre agreed to entirely fund the Rs 1,200-crore Brimstowad project in 2006, but the actual sanction came earlier this month. Thankfully, the BMC has started implementing the project from its own internal funds. The Centre has not yet sanctioned the project to clean Mithi river despite several studies and experts pointing out that the pollution of the river and alterations in its natural flow are the main culprits.
But the images of flooded roads, abandoned local trains, a menacingly flowing Mithi river, and incessant showers that poured 944-mm (or close to 3 ft) of water in 24 hours are still fresh in Mumbai’s collective psyche.
On the second anniversary of 26/7, the city is far from being safe. A lot remains to be done to prevent a repeat of the deluge even if it rains less than 500 mm. That the city is hardly equipped to tackle the monsoon menace was all too evident when the city received more than 300 mm rainfall earlier this month.
“This is because, except for the unprecedented and record high rainfall, all the factors that caused the calamity are still lurking around,” said an official. The deluge not only shook the state government in July 2005, but alerted the Centre to the awful infrastructural inadequacies that Mumbai suffers from. Yet, precious little has been done to rectify the glaring loopholes even after two years.
A spate of projects has been announced by the state and the Centre, but only few have materialised. The irony becomes all the more starker considering the fact that a similar political combination is ruling the state and the Centre.
Post-July 26, 2005, the state chalked out a grandiose Rs 30,000-crore plan to overhaul Mumbai. Some projects like the cleaning of Mithi river, Brihanmumbai storm water drain (Brimstowad) upgradation, and Mumbai sewage disposal scheme were proposed.
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The other projects like Mumbai Metro rail, Nhawa-Sewri transharbour link, Mumbai Urban Transport Project, and Mumbai Urban infrastructure Project were on the agenda even before July 2005, but got more prominence after the deluge.
However, very few of the overhaul plans have taken off and little money has come from the Centre even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh makes it a point to mention Mumbai makeover as one of the ambitious tasks before the UPA government.
For instance, the Centre agreed to entirely fund the Rs 1,200-crore Brimstowad project in 2006, but the actual sanction came earlier this month. Thankfully, the BMC has started implementing the project from its own internal funds. The Centre has not yet sanctioned the project to clean Mithi river despite several studies and experts pointing out that the pollution of the river and alterations in its natural flow are the main culprits.
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