Politicos wake up to city woes

MUMBAI: Mumbai may not be getting its due from the Centre, but politicos of all hues in Maharashtra seem to have woken up to the neglect of the city.

In a positive development, a general consensus is shaping up among major parties in the state over the need to give Mumbai what it deserves.

This was evident from the way Maharashtra Legislative Assembly discussed Mumbai’s ills for a marathon six hours on Wednesday. Though nothing concrete came out of it, the debate indicated the ripples caused by 26/7 and 11/7. There was one jarring note though.

The Nationalist Congress Party, the single largest ruling party in the House, was all along indifferent to the debate. Only a couple of NCP legislators participated in the debate. Worse, virtually all senior ministers including home minister RR Patil and finance minister Jayant Patil had left the House well before Mr Deshmukh gave a reply.

The party has often invited criticism for being rural-centric and Thursday’s debate only reconfirmed the charge. That the CM is not satisfied with the NCP so far as Mumbai matters are concerned was evident from the way he virtually exposed MSRDC minister Anil Deshmukh, from NCP, over delay in construction of the Bandra-Worli sea-link. “There has been an unpardonable delay in implementing this project,” the CM admitted.

Though all parties discussed Mumbai with equal seriousness, there were instances of parties refusing to rise above their individual programmes. The Shiv Sena was for cleansing Mumbai of all Bangladeshi immigrants. It accused the Congress of providing political patronage to illegal slums for its vote-bank politics.

“All post-1995 slums are illegal and must be removed,” Leader of the Opposition Ramdas Kadam demanded. Mr Kadam also exonerated the BMC, which the Sena rules, from all blame over the 26/7 deluge and directed his ire at the MMRDA, Shiv Sena’s favourite target.

Mr Kadam also sought to know the status of Mumbai’s various infrastructure projects worth Rs 4,526 crore awaiting 35% aid from the Centre. The BJP offered some constructive suggestions, which were hailed even by the Congress. Senior leader Gopinath Munde suggested cease-fire between the state government and the BMC for funds.

“Mumbai must get funds from the Centre only. If need be, we will take an all-party delegation to the Centre for funds. We also need a Cabinet minister in the state exclusively for Mumbai,” Mr Munde said. He pointed out that Mumbai’s GDP in the fiscal ’05-06 had dipped to an abysmal 2.1% as against the national GDP of 8.6%.

“It’s a myth that Mumbai is India’s richest city,” Mr Munde said. The BJP leader also sought repeal of the Urban Land Ceiling Act, which he said was stalling Mumbai’s growth.

It may be recalled that the law was repealed by the BJP-led NDA government in 1998 but only Maharashtra and West Bengal have to pass ratifying legislations.

Mr Deshmukh was a pale shadow of his radical anti-illegal slums image in ’04. “The constitution guarantees a right to live anywhere in the country to everybody,” Mr Deshmukh said. The CM, however, shared the opposition’s concern that there should not be fresh illegal slums in Mumbai.