Look where Mumbai’s money is going

But he’s also the chairman of the body that froze into inaction: the Maharashtra State Disaster Management Authority. Deshmukh also holds the key urban development portfolio, he heads the Mumbai Vision plan, he heads the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, and the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority.

‘‘How can the Chief Minister of the state find time to chair a host of supposedly autonomous authorities?’’ asked former state finance secretary Madhav Godbole.

Four years ago, in a report commissioned by the state, Godbole suggested a statutory urban commission of experts, prominent citizens and officials. Nothing’s been done.

Ask the CM if the Mithi river authority will fix responsibility and the answer is classic bureaucratese: ‘‘It will only make a report within three months.’’

Will illegal structures that have polluted and smothered the river be demolished? ‘‘We cannot go on demolishing every structure,’’ said Deshmukh. ‘‘Even if we do, we will rehabilitate them.’’

The crux of the problem, said experts, is not a Delhi-takes-our-money issue as it’s often made out to be: that Mumbai pays Rs 5,000 crore in taxes and receives Rs 100 crore in return.

‘‘This talk is rubbish,’’ said a top state bureaucrat. ‘‘Funds are not a problem, the quality of decision-making is. If the CM himself is the chief of so many authorities presiding over the state of Mumbai, how can we expect non-partisan, apolitical, and quality decisions from him?’’

Mumbai is a political no-man’s land with only 34 representatives in a house of 288. In the recent monsoon session, there wasn’t a single question on Mumbai’s development and infrastructure.

That’s not all. The state government has dipped into kitty of Mumbai’s prime planning authority, the MMRDA, at least twice—Rs 1,000 crore was loaned to bail out the cotton crisis and around Rs 400 crore for the Krishna Valley Irrigation Project. The money has still not been returned.

‘‘Most funds are cornered by political lobbies from Western Maharashtra,’’ said a former finance secretary. ‘‘Legislators and MPs in Western Maharashtra, from all parties, are accountable to their constituencies. If they don’t bring in funds, they are finished.’’

That’s why on July 26, when Mumbai was marooned, Finance Minister Jayant Patil rushed 325 km southwards to his constituency, Sangli.

Patil returned only yesterday. ‘‘I was not assigned to go there,’’ he acknowledged. ‘‘I went on my own since my constituency suffered huge losses.’’

So Patil’s job—assessing damage, distributing ex-gratia and preparing a statement of losses for Central assistance—was left to his officials. ‘‘A minister at the helm of affairs in such a crisis would certainly have made our task easier,’’ said a senior revenue official.

And where was the revenue minister? On that torrential Tuesday, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh spent precious time getting Sena rebel leader Narayan Rane sworn in as revenue minister. The next day, Rane rushed to his constituency in the Konkan, also hit hard by the floods.

‘‘Don’t blame me for everything,’’ Deshmukh said, just after appointing ministers for every flood-hit district—except Mumbai. ‘‘I am not the only one responsible.’’

(Concluded)