The next 100-day agenda for Prithviraj Chavan, the CM of Maharashtra (Part III)  

March 24, 2011

The focus must be on Mumbai, to conserve energy through better design of buildings; address congestion and mobility with better footpaths, cycle-ways and implementing the bus rapid transit system; and work on convenient low-cost housing mainly for slum dwellers who constitute the majority of the population

Sudhir Badami

One of the recent chief ministers of Maharashtra, while in office, is reported to have stated that there is nothing in Maharashtra to speak of without Mumbai. That is a sad commentary for a state which has been in the forefront of economic development and social reforms, looking after the welfare of its people over the years. That the rest of Maharashtra could not keep pace with the growth of its capital is perhaps because of the prices of land appreciating by leaps and bounds, relative to not only the other parts of the state, but also with respect to the suburban areas of the capital city itself, and in this, the government in the post-liberalisation era felt it was the best thing that could happen to reflect "India Shining".

Privatisation and globalisation were given more importance than the delivery of services and providing amenities to inhabitants of Mumbai. Non-availability of affordable housing within proximity of the work place and inadequate public transport, has led to undesirable growth of informal housing to an extent that nearly two-third of Mumbai's population live in 'slums'. Perhaps, issues of water supply, sewage disposal and power supply could be tackled to a certain extent, but housing and transport govern the quality of life of the Mumbai citizen. Added to this is the shortage of open public spaces and what came within this domain was thrown away to private parties, silently, by modifying the Development Control Rules in the aftermath of the closure of textile mills in Mumbai.

Let us see what all we can ask the chief minister to prioritise over the next 100 days. Let us confine ourselves mainly to housing, transport and power.

I will not dwell on generation of power to meet the demand. I am going to say that we must consume less power than we are doing now. In which case, what is the role that the chief minister will have to play in this matter? With so much building activity imminent in Mumbai, the time has come to ensure that buildings are designed for natural lighting and ventilation as they used to be, in the days when before electricity was commercially generated and distributed. Day time consumption of excessive power in non-industrial urban areas must be penalised severely, thus making power available in industrial and agricultural sectors in the state, eliminating the load shedding in the rest of the state.

Recycling water should be mandatory in Mumbai, which will provide for flushing and gardening and also watering of playgrounds and roads to lower the dust levels in the city. Noise levels in the city are high primarily because of movement of traffic, not just due to honking vehicles. Noise from traffic movement can be tackled by reducing usage of motorised vehicles on the road, besides use of more silent engines, which also helps in reduced dust levels. As regards honking vehicles, devices can be made that can penalise excessive honking by vehicles. Tackling this problem automatically reduces the need to have closed habitable space.

How does one reduce the use of personal motorised vehicles? Given the fact that 44% of Mumbai's inhabitants walk to work, 3.1% cycle to work, 23% use the suburban railway and 17% use buses, we ought to provide good, adequate footpaths and cycle-ways (given that cyclists outnumber motorists), and implement the Bus Rapid Transit System. (BRTS) This would address the problem of congestion and mobility also.

While the items of (i) making buildings environment friendly and (ii) promoting walking, cycling and BRTS appear to be long term, their implementation must begin now. In fact, BRTS can be completed in about one-twentieth of the time that the Metro Rail is estimated to take. Since huge investments are being made, all infrastructure projects must be designed not only to perform in disasters, but to be helpful in managing disaster situations. The chief minister cannot ignore this for reasons of cost, for human lives cannot be monetized. From this point of view, BRTS is a necessary corollary, and so is getting the Konkan Railway's Skybus off the ground.

Since MMRDA has already taken up the building of rental housing on a large scale in the distant suburbs, the repercussion will be on continuation of slums if there is no safe and efficient public transport. Even with such a transport system in place, housing in far away places means travelling long distances and consequently high energy consumption, which is what we must try to avoid. The chief minister must look at alternatives to house slum dwellers in the same locality, but with better housing facilities, like re-introduction of the chawl system with good sanitation and natural lighting and ventilation and proper maintenance. After all, only about 8% to 10 % of Mumbai's land is occupied by 60% of the population which lives in slums. This cost can be met by the state government jointly with slum dwellers and housing finance institutions.

All other ongoing mega projects need not be stopped. But in case of a financial crunch, they should be given lower priority. Projects that have not begun, need not be started if they have little delivery value.

In summary, Prithviraj Chavan must give priority to the following issues in the next 100 days:
1) Discard the Surbana Consultant's "Concept Plan for MMR for 2052" and initiate planning of a people-oriented, culturally and financially vibrant megapolis of Mumbai, not forgetting that this megapolis is an integral part of Maharashtra and the country.


2) Get internet based, transparent Road Maintenance and Management System initiated and incorporated.

3) Get the Unified Mumbai Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMMTA) reactivated so that all infrastructure projects can get executed with proper co-ordination.

4) Set up all mechanisms to ensure that all projects get executed in compliance with the CRZ Notification 2011 and information be made available in the public domain.

5) Make it mandatory for new buildings to be designed in an energy-efficient manner-providing natural lighting and ventilation in habitable premises, as much as possible, and proactively penalise excessive use of power during day time in these premises.

6) Make water recycling mandatory, to make water available for flushing, gardening, street washing and ground watering, reducing dust levels in the city.

7) Promote carbon neutral modes of mobility like walking and cycling, by providing infrastructure for them and implementing BRTS projects, thus addressing the mobility issue instead of increasing the number of personal vehicles. Reducing the usage of personal vehicles, thus lowering dust, air and noise pollution.

8) Incorporation of schemes in all infrastructure projects that would assist in (i) mitigation and (ii) management of disaster situations.

9) Converting all slums into "chawls" for housing and accommodating non-polluting existing cottage industries in the existing locations.

10) Stop all proposed projects that are yet to take off, if they do not fall in these priority categories. Those projects that have already commenced may be discretely suspended or converted to one of the above categories.

Although it was thought that specific projects could be listed and the status mentioned in this concluding part, it was felt that this could have turned into a status review rather than an agenda for the chief minister for the next 100 days.

While the chief minister should put these on priority, the setting up of an internal mechanism to monitor and transparently place this in the public domain is as important as executing the programme. I look forward to the changes taking place within the next one year, if the chief minister will take this up with proper understanding and vigor.

(Sudhir Badami is a civil engineer and transportation analyst. He is on the Government of Maharashtra's Steering Committee on Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) for Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority's (MMRDA) technical advisory committee on BRTS for Mumbai. He is also member of the Research & MIS Committee of Unified Mumbai Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMMTA). He was a member of the Bombay High Court-appointed erstwhile Road Monitoring Committee (2006-07). He has been an active campaigner against noise pollution for over a decade and he is a strong believer in functioning democracy. He can be contacted on email at [email protected].)