'Marooned' Mumbaikars in no mood to forgive state govt for 26/7 failure

MUMBAI: Mumbaikars are in no mood to forgive the Maharashtra government for what happened a year ago on July 26. ‘Mumbai Marooned’, an initiative by a group of citizens and NGOs, has held the BMC, Maharashtra government and police responsible for the rain havoc in the financial capital last year.

It has rejected the state government’s argument that such rains happen only ‘once in 100 years.’ The city’s suburbs received 944.2 mm of rain, exceeding the record 833 mm in Cherrapunji in 1910. According to official figures, 910 people lost their lives, 65 were injured and 33 were declared missing in Mumbai.

The damage to property ran into hundreds of crores and thousands of people lost their houses, belongings and savings. At least one-third of the surface area of the city had been flooded. Most phone lines were lost or severely disrupted for periods ranging from a few hours to, in some cases, weeks. Electricity supply was cut.

The city’s cell phone network also faltered, Mumbai airport was closed, with water flowing over the runway and even through the terminal buildings. Public transport too came to a grinding halt, leaving lakhs of people stranded at different points in the city. For 18 hours, Mumbai’s lifeline, its suburban rail system, was completely inoperable.

The final report by the Concerned Citizens Commission (CCC), that would be released on Tuesday, holds lack of accountability, administration’s incompetence and corruption amid government servants as responsible for the rain-related damage. The CCC had launched a drive to understand the reasons behind last year’s misery.

The report notes: “A reason cited by government officials for the system failure on July 26 was that the rainfall was unprecedented. There is enough evidence to suggest that the deluge was definitely not a ‘once-in-a-100-year’ event. The intensity of such events will only increase with increased human activity.

The report cautions that “this should definitely not be used to excuse shortcomings and incompetence on the part of the administration.” About the rehabilitation efforts, the report says, “there is much that is left desired”.

The rehabilitation package announced for Maharashtra did not include a single rupee for Mumbai because the houses which were affected were illegal and providing any kind of rehab package to these hutments would be an acknowledgement of their illegality.

“Further the government’s notion of calculating losses is extremely short-sighted and does not take into account loss of livelihood which needs to be seriously looked into,” it notes. The committee is particularly harsh on the much talked about disaster management plan (DMP).

“It can be safely said that the DMP is nothing more than a futile exercise in academics. While theoretically the plan exists on paper, in reality it is far from perfect,” the report notes. It has severely criticised the role played by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA).

“The MMRDA has shown an alarming disrespect for sensible planning norms and ecological spaces,” the report has observed. Town planners attributed the cause of the deluge to encroachment of the Mithi river by slums, development of the airport runway by diverting the river’s course and development of the Bandra-Kurla complex.

Starting from September 3, ’05, the CCC held 12 public hearings in the worst affected areas of the city like Kurla, Kalina, Jeri Meri and Sakinaka. Over 14,000 written testimonies and 200 videotapes were recorded. While experts from various disciplines deposed, the chief minister, the Municipal Commissioner and other authorities did not.