Mumbai, mat ro!

Just like theres the financial capital of New York City, India has its financial capital in Mumbai. Mumbai has been a true epitomy of the chaos and diversity that India is today. Millions of immigrants from all parts of the country have made it their home, much to the chagrin of those hypocrites led by the Thackreys. Thousands of starry-eyed youth have traversed its path in search of a lucky break into filmdom, and thousands have been mauled by its underworld.

Thats the life it represents, but I am here to talk about Mumbai's infrastructure, which again represents in a way, what India is today. There are luxurious skyscrapers rising in the midst of squalor. Lack of planning has taken its toll on everything, the water supply, electricity, and the city's natural resources. Indian townplanners never really did their job right, and every city is like a deformed person, with tumours in every part of the body, malnourished, and beaten up.

I think i've said it before, India will continue to suffer as long as our public housing remains a joke. I think the main reason slums exist in cities today is because the state has failed to provide cheap, quality housing to the millions of immigrants who have made their way from rural India looking for a better life. Till now, they have only been used as gullible vote banks by unscrupulous netas who feed them nothing but empty promises.

The same can be said for urban transportation. When one mentions urban transportation to me, a picture comes into my mind of green, dirty, rickety Tata, Leyland buses with puke on the sides, spewing black flames. Till the last decade, the only significant achievement in all of India on the transportation front was that the Delhi bus fleet converted to CNG. The decision to finally get the New Delhi Metro rolling during the NDA government was a great decision, and today I hear Delhi citizens couldn't be prouder of their efficient, clean and ever-expanding Metro. Thank you Mr. Sreedharan.

Now coming to Mumbai. Mumbai has always tried to work with the limited resources that its netas have provided. BEST, the bus service, still does a decent job, and its suburban train network is a lifeline to the millions to come in every day from the suburbs. Mumbai had one thing going for it, the Mumbai Urban Transportation Project, and the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project, so thats two things, which was supposed to change the way Mumbai lived. Big words, and while work is still going on the big projects such as the Bandra-Worly Sealink and Nhava-Sheva bridge, Mumbai was still left wanting for better transportation. So when the state government stopped talking politics for a second and talked infrastructure for a change, it was a pleasant surprise. At long last, the Mumbai Metro was finally going to be a reality. The state government awarded the contract for the first line of the first phase to Anil Ambani's Reliance Energy Limited, and work is expected to start in 2 months, and completed by 2009.

Heres the breakdown:

Phase I (12 km underground)
Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar - 15.0 kms
Backbay(Colaba)-Prabhadevi-Mahim-Andheri-Charkop - 36km
Mahim-Bandra-Kurla-Mankhurd - 12.8kms

Phase II
Charkop - Dahisar - 7.5kms
Ghatkopar-Mulund - 12.4kms

Phase III (20.5 km underground)
BKC - Airport - Powai - Kanjur Marg - 19.5kms
Andheri (East) -Dahisar (East) - 18kms
Fountain (Hutatma Chowk) - Sewri - Ghatkopar - 21.8kms
Prabhadevi - Sewri - 3.5kms
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Indian cities have been plagued by ineffective city governments, state bureaucracies, and the ever-uncaring politicians, so I do not know how much the National Urban Renewal Mission with accomplish, but heres to optimism.