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Another monsoon brought another deluge to India’s financial capital, Mumbai. With large parts of the city underwater, commuters stranded and lives lost, 29 August brought back the horrific memories of 26 July 2005. This time too, Mumbaikars rose to the occasion and helped fellow residents overcome the crisis together but the questions that need to be asked to the city’s civic body and state machinery are these: Have we learnt nothing in the last 13 years? Despite having over a decade to prepare, why was Mumbai still submerged?
The problems, experts say, are serious and numerous. But if planned well, their solutions are definitely executable in the long run.
A large portion of the city’s open spaces which once soaked up water have now been turned to concrete. In land-starved Mumbai, every piece of real estate is seen as a potential construction site. But while building the city, its planners seem to have overlooked the eventuality of floods.
While one of the solutions to tackle this problem would be to leave open spaces, mangroves and salt pans across the city untouched, experts suggest a few other important solutions.
According to urban planners, an overhaul of Mumbai’s storm-water drainage system is long overdue. Despite massive desilting activities carried out by the civic body before the onset of monsoon every year, heavy rain lashing for a few hours is all it takes to flood Mumbai’s roads.
Apart from adding more sewer lines and maintaining them regularly, experts believe innovative water-conservation measures could help not just stop flooding, but also come handy during droughts.
In 2016, the BMC was forced to suspend two of its Chief Engineers and form a committee to inquire into a Rs 352 crore road repairs scam. With massive irregularities carried out by its independent contractors and senior officials exposed, questions were raised about the lack of transparency maintained by the civic body.
The following year, the BMC, one of the richest civic bodies of India, slashed its budget by nearly Rs 12,000 crore. Experts say lack of transparency is one of the biggest hurdles that the civic body must overcome to ensure optimum use of funds.
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