Podcast | Pick of the day - Mumbai's crumbling infra under rains

For those who have never experienced Mumbai in the monsoons, film maker Basu Chatterjee's depiction in the song, "Rim Jhim Gire Sawan" is a feel-good tour of the city's rain splashed landmarks. It is complete with Lata Mangeshkar's dulcet vocals, puddles you can jump in, waves that drench you and the romance of walking hand in hand on roads unclogged by traffic.

This was the seventies version of the Mumbai monsoon of course. Over the years, the city's infrastructure has almost given away because of increasing population, an ill-maintained drainage system, and an overall inefficiency that results in routine flooding, the slowing down of the public transport system to a crawl, collapsing buildings and walls.

This is Seetal, and today we are not just talking about the latest episode in Mumbai's never ending saga of monsoon troubles but why things never seem to change.

Just yesterday, the Free Press Journal carried a report headlined thus and we quote, "The richest municipal body in India ‘BMC’ is inefficient for problems in the city." Unquote.

Journalist Akash Sakaria opened the piece thus and we quote,"Every year, after the rains cause widespread disruption, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) claims that it is at work and things will be different the next year. But neither do things change, nor the BMC’s statements.

Already this season, Mumbai rains have been responsible for the city’s litany of woes—with three deaths on June 24 and 25 topping the list. These downpours led to waterlogging in many parts, which, in turn, caused traffic to crawl, and saw more than 50 BEST buses diverted and more than 140 trains on Central and Western Railways cancelled." Unquote.

The report of course was filed before the this morning's unfortunate event.

Heavy overnight rains and waterlogging in many areas today resulted in the crash of a structure, known as the Gokhale Bridge, on S.V. Road. A part of the bridge, which is on the southern end of Andheri station between platform numbers 7-8, crashed around 7.30 am, in the process dismantling overhead wires which then fell on the tracks.

Updates are coming in even as we record this but there was no immediate confirmation at the time of recording, about whether the injured were commuters or pedestrians. Last updates have reported that five people have been injured, with two in a critical condition though thankfully, no casualties have been reported so far. Rescue operations are on to see if there are any more people trapped under the debris.

Where is Gokhale bridge?

It is the key connection between Andheri East and Andheri West stations and is used by thousands of commuters each day.

Traffic at and around the bridge has been stopped and trains have been delayed, causing misery and inconvenience to thousands. Some routes of a few other local trains have been rearranged to help the commuters, we have learnt. There will also be an increase in the frequency of the city's BEST buses to help out commuters. Mumbai's famously efficient dabbawala service has also been affected by this disruption.

What is the extent of the damage?

The bridge crash has damaged a section of the platform roof.

The debris have blocked railway lines.

And as we mentioned before, electric wires and overhead power equipment have suffered damage as well.

And as is obvious, the debris will have to be cleared and wires repaired before trains can resume and life for commuters can return to normal.

Western Railway spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar said and we quote,

"Thankfully, no train was passing beneath the track." Unquote.

So, it was a matter of chance that no train was passing by because if there had been one, the damage would have included the lives of many commuters. It is also fortunate that the crash happened around 7.30 am when not too many commuters were using the bridge.

Railways minister Piyush Goyal has already ordered an enquiry into the bridge collapse.

Adding to the torment of the hardworking Mumbaikar is the incessant waterlogging which is slowing traffic everywhere else.

The roads which were reported to be waterlogged include Shyam Talav Road, Hindmata at Dadar, Oberoi Mall at Goregaon East towards WEH, CSMT Road, Kurla.

Over a foot of water was reported at areas like Mahim junction, Nehru Nagar bridge , CST Road etc.

But as even as a casual glance through monsoon related news reports would tell you..this is not the first time or even the last possibly that the Mumbaikar has suffered due to a city severely unprepared for the rains.

On June 25 just this year, a wall collapse caused a road cave-in Wadala East, damaging at least 15 cars and burying some of them under the debris, reports the Free Press Journal.

The journal also reported that the BMC is the richest municipal body in India and one of the richest in Asia. Its annual budget estimate for 2018-19 is Rs 27,258.07 crore.

The report says, that it is the massive under-utilisation of funds caused by red tape and lack of planning, that inconveniences the city every year during the rains.

The civic body, however, came back with the retort that there was waterlogging in only nine out of ten places of the more than 125 chronic flooding spots in the city during the June rains.

A BMC offcial said and we quote, "More than 1,200 protective grilles or nets have been put on manholes across the city, and more will be put in the coming months.” Unquote.

But what is evident is while there is a tendency to do crisis management on the spot, a larger perspective about long term solutions is missing.

On June 7, Aadiyan Parvez Tamboli, a three year old toddler fell into an open gutter in Chembur’s Cheetah Camp area and died. That even one death is one too many is a lesson we as a nation need to imbibe because too many lives are lost due to large scale ineptitude and apathy.

There is also a tendency that after every such tragedy officials and resident indulge in a blame game and shrug off all accountability. Inadequate maintenance of existing lifelines and infrastructure and ineffective solid waste management and the pervasive garbage menace contribute to the bleak picture.

Just a day ago Firstpost came up with ten reasons why Mumbai suffers endlessly through every monsoon.

Reason number one being that the city suffers from a chronic drainage problem.

Says the Firstpost report, "Every time it rains when the high tide is on, the rainwater does not flow out of the city. It backs up and inundates every low-lying part."

Reason number two according to the report is that the railway tracks are said to be a few feet below the mean sea level (MSL) and that explains their submersion.

Firstpost says, reason number three behind the monsoon woes in Mumbai are the over a century old storm water drains which haven not been overhauled despite the big-ticket project, The Brihanmumbai Stormwater Disposal System (BRIMSTOWAD), that is underway though at a snail’s pace.

According to Firstpost, reason number four, is that the contracts for clearance of drains – nallahs as we call them – are issued late. And the work is often done unprofessionally.

Reason number 5, is that inefficient contractors are not held accountable. According to Firstpost, they continue to be bidders for the work year upon year, causing the same problems everytime.

The sixth reason, we are told by Firstpost, is that many elected ward representatives do not attend to basic issues like solid waste management and inspection of drains.

Reason number seven according to Firstpost's Mahesh Vijapurkar is that solid waste management is not done routinely but only taken up before the monsoon.

Even though the plastic ban has sought to address Mumbai's plastic waste problem, the city, says Firstpost is far from eliminating plastic from its garbage with construction material and thermocol adding to the solid waste crisis. And that is reason number eight why the city suffers from waterlogging among other problems every monsoon.Especially when packing in plastic is the norm and 99 percent of shoppers do not carry their reusable cotton bags.

The Firstpost report does not absolve the Mumbaikar from accountability either and so the tenth reason is that the average citizen has not done his or her bit to address the issues that paralyse their city in the rains every year.

Garbage disposal is the responsibility of the citizen too and apart from the 7,500 tonnes of garbage collected per day, the unspecified masses of uncollected garbage continue to choke the drains.

Hope is a good thing and every philosophical Hindi film song will tell you that. As will every article celebrating the tireless spirit of the Mumbaikar but ground realities must be attended to by civic bodies and the civil society before the monsoon can be enjoyed in Mumbai just like a Basu Chatterjee song.