More slums, cover for death in the gutter

MUMBAI: It���s all on predictable lines. In their serious ever bid to challenge the Shiv Sena���s dominance over the BMC, the Congress and the NCP have decided to play populist. The Congress manifesto for Mumbai���s political marathon promised regularisation of ���eligible��� slums with a cut-off year of 2000, compared to the existing 1995, while its younger sibling, the NCP, skirted the issue.

Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, forced to cancel his Davos visit by the party high-command, did indeed play the star campaigner at the Congress manifesto release. Mr Deshmukh chanted the Mumbai makeover mantra, his government���s pet programme, and questioned the Sena���s contribution to Mumbai in its decade-long rule of the city corporation. So, the Congress promises a mix of populism with a dash of development.

Mr Deshmukh also sought to beat the Sena at its own game, by raising the ���Marathi manoos��� issue. ���What has the Sena done for Marathis in ten years? We dare the Sena to seek votes on the basis performance,��� he challenged.

By not promising octroi abolition, though, the party has refrained from appeasing the trading community. A very interesting highlight of the manifesto is a reminder of the July 26 deluge in 2005 that killed around 500 Mumbaikars.

The party has promised life insurance for all Mumbai citizens who figure on the voter list. So, if a citizen loses life because of the wrongdoing of the BMC ��� choked drains, flooding manholes ��� the civic body will pay for it, the Congress promises.

There is also acknowledgement of the island city���s vulnerable infrastructure. The Congress has promised upgradation of the storm water drainage system in Mumbai to prevent a repeat of the terrible Tuesday in 2005 when flood waters just would not recede.

The NCP released its manifesto with little departure from the Congress document. Party chief Sharad Pawar once again played big brother to the Congress, saying that his party won���t respond to the barbs coming from Sonia Gandhi���s partymen in Mumbai. He even indicated a possible tie-up with the Congress after the polls.

The NCP manifesto promises a shift to the capital value system of assessing property tax, 24-hour water supply, implementation on war-footing of the Brihanmumbai Storm Water Drain (Brimstowad) project that is being funded by the Centre, and speedy redevelopment of old buildings. The NCP has, however, promised abolition of octroi.

The ruling partners in the state also talk about amendments in the Shops Act to raise business hours up to midnight. There are a few similarities in poll promises, an indication that a post-poll alliance between the two ���secular��� parties could be a comfortable working arrangement.

Both the parties have promised garbage-free Mumbai, free computer education at BMC schools, and protection of reserved plots and open spaces.