Making the cut

Even on a normal day,you would wonder at how and why business and as high-value a business as the diamond trade had to be carried on in Mumbais labyrinthine Opera House area. The bylanes packed with cars and the match-box offices were always seedy,in the sense of a foreboding of something sinister lurking around the next corner. Traders hang on,often ferociously,to sink-holes,even when state-of-the-art alternatives are designed and provided specifically for them,citing a million reasons. Now,after last Wednesdays terror attacks,the diamond traders may be moving,finally,to the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC),which already houses the Bharat Diamond Bourse. The BKC is being fortified as reported in this newspaper on Sunday,and should soon host the bulk of the diamond trading community.

However,its indeed sad when tragedy forces a re-think and action on what should have been the norm long ago. The work that Mumbai needs,in order to be salvaged as a city,is gigantic. The congested nightmare makes it doubly difficult for a city with no scope to expand,naturally,and geographically restricted to a long,narrow north-south strip. Therefore,to rescue Mumbai,the city has to be decongested on a war-footing. Following the BKC model,businesses need to be moved out of congested lanes and bylanes; slums have to be cleared and their occupants rehabilitated in affordable urban housing projects; transport and traffic infrastructure needs immediate investment and overhaul.

This is the briefest list possible of the things that need to be done to save Mumbai. Each of these comes with a million strings attached,and neither the citys local government nor the state government has been interested in lifting a finger to help Mumbais residents and traders. On decongestion itself,approval for new building projects are getting stuck with the high-rise committee and the chief minister. Only a small fraction of the MMRDA-sanctioned affordable housing projects on Mumbais peripheries has taken off. The solution to a badly run city cannot be its not being run at all. Mumbai needs to empty its underbelly fast. Let alone Mumbais Shanghai dreams,even its status as Indias financial capital is under threat.