Mumbaineeds8230;

Civic amenities are the basic requirements guaranteed by the city fathers to every citizen. Mumbai as a city has three geographical problems...

Civic amenities are the basic requirements guaranteed by the city fathers to every citizen. Mumbai as a city has three geographical problems it has sea on three sides 8212; east, west and south as well. It has to grow like all modern metros but only toward the north, away from the southern business centres. And that creates a problem.

People want to live near the place of work. If they don8217;t get a place, they find one. If they don8217;t find one, they build one; even when the land is not theirs and the material used is not up to the standard. Thus creating in large numbers, slime, litter, untidy, menace 8212; SLUM. What really hurts me is that people have stopped thinking of other people8217;s rights. And the politicians and the authorities are abetting it.

If there8217;s a house, there has to be certain amenities. When people don8217;t get water, they acquire it illegally, and we end up paying their bills. But liberty is not license. It8217;s high time someone put in a public litigation against such people. The problem is thateveryone is hard pressed for time.

Corrupt elements in the establishment are encouraging this kind of behaviour. We have got five lakes in the city which are relatively full most of the time, yet we have to buy and sell water through tankers. One can safely say that there are instances of tankerwallahs bribing the civic authorities to stop water so that they can sell.

The flyovers planned years ago are being built now. Because somebody put a spanner into the machinery for political mileage or moolah. Despite the fact that Mumbai has the best organised traffic in India, it has its problems of complacent, corrupt and callous people. Pedestrian crossings and signals have been built where they are not required, by corporators who want to appease their constituencies.

Lack of vision and far-sightedness, thinking for tomorrow instead of today is the bane of our city planners. Covering of potholes, laying of dividers, painting of pedestrian crossings should inevitably be done either in non-peak hours or atnight. It would save a lot of time and money 8211; in terms of petrol.

I was born and brought up in Mumbai, then called Bombay, and I love this city. I have grown with it, but don8217;t wish to die with it.

As told to Chatura Poojari