Bye-bye, Mumbai

Surely the prize for mindless hyperactivity should go to the Urban Development Ministry and BMC as they work to change the face of Mumbai. The end result of their frenzied efforts will be more congestion, more traffic holdups, more strain on the creaking infrastructure, more of every kind of pollution. But those are mere side-effects, the price to pay for turning Mumbai into a 8220;world-class commercial centre8221; and for putting some substance into the Shiv Sena8217;s slogans. If Manohar Joshi8217;s new office location policy actually goes into effect, several things will happen.

One, a whole lot of illegal office space today will become legal tomorrow, proving that it pays to flout the rules. Two, the only constraint on turning residential properties into commercial offices will be the need to provide parking space. The facility is available initially to Zone R-2 residential properties. But that may not be as much of a hardship as it sounds for those eager to go commercial. R-2 and other zones are not official yet;they exist in the MMRDA8217;s draft development plan but have not been approved by the government. R-2 could, therefore, turn out to be stretchable in all directions. Three, forget all about decongestion policies and the developments that have taken place under their steam in the last three decades, including the Bandra-Kurla complex and Navi Mumbai.

Give up hope of seeing a southward, Konkan thrust to urban development. It is all going to be concentrated here in the island city. Meanwhile, the misnamed Civic Improvements Committee has been doing its bit to speed up congestion in the suburbs by relaxing height restrictions on buildings. This is an ad hoc decision unrelated to world-class ambitions. The idea here is to tempt reluctant builders to get a move on and give shape to the Shiv Sena8217;s free slum houses scheme before the next elections come along. Too bad that the suburbs have serious water shortages and bad roads. The more the numbers, the merrier. Finally, it is has been left to the cash-strappedrevenue department to decide whether to extend the leases of gymkhanas. No prizes for guessing that revenue-generating high-rises will get priority over open spaces. Get ready to say, bye-bye, Mumbai.