Some cities of the world like London and Paris are known to be over 1800 years old. New York is known to be at least 400 years old. Mumbai too is an ancient region but the city we now know came to be organised first by the Portuguese in 1534 and then by the British in 1784. The British made the most land reclamations to unify the 7 islands that make up Mumbai. Strangely, London, Paris and New York all built underground rail-systems during the 19th century. They are now over 100 years old and London being the oldest has the most complex system:
Even compared to 1980, the London underground has expanded dramatically and covers more areas to reduce congestion on the roads. The same goes for Paris and New York City too. In addition, NYC has underground connections to neighbouring New Jersey across the Hudson river. This is how these cities managed road-congestion although certain central areas do face congestion. India was obviously a poor country and for much of the comparable period ruled by foreigners when the introduction of railways in Mumbai itself was quite a great accomplishment. Also, given the extensive land-reclamation activity in Mumbai, the authorities gave little thought to underground connectivity and felt over-ground rail, bus and other vehicles would be enough to last a long time. That proved to be wrong. An illustration of the NYC tubes across Hudson and its operations are indicated in the image below:
The new metro systems in Mumbai hardly have any underground systems. Most of the metro lines are made on bridges across the same arterial roads and that ends up adding to the congestion rather than easing it. Currently Mumbai has 33kms of underground metro which is only half operational. If you look at the total car and vehicle population in some of the major cities of the world, they are less than Mumbai except in some cases. Mumbai currently has nearly 5 million vehicles:
I can keep on narrating the problems of Mumbai and other major old and metro cities in India and what is causing those problems. But then most of it has already been narrated. Unlike these foreign cities, the fate of our metro cities are decided by the whims of the PM with Reservation-class engineers, least-educated town planners and the construction mafia. Narendra Modi obviously likes lipstick and has taken a fancy to metros and flyovers which he likes to inaugurate without any real brains being applied to real solutions of the problems. And some of those solutions require TOUGH decisions which cowards of our govts can never take due to caste, religion, mafia and vote-bank considerations.
The foreign cities have state and local administrations doing the town-planning while in India, it is the GOI or, specifically, a vagrant Modi and his lipstick-chasing moronery that decides things for cities under their party rule. As a consequence, you have this nonsense in Mumbai where even poorly constructed flyovers or metros are not solving the problem:
In all the GOI constructions it is not the concern for the well-being of citizens or the cities that are the main concern for Modi. He keeps on building flyovers, airports, rail terminals and other infra projects mainly to put his name on the foundation stone or a plaque which is dedicated to his memory rather than a real need or a problem-solver. The only thing that multiplies is congestion, more garbage, poor living standards and excessive waste of money. Take a look at the sanitation strengths of Mumbai and New York:
India simply does not have the most modern drainage and sanitation technology. Then, poor garbage disposal systems contribute to the mess. The highest spend of the GOI from all its collections is on DOLES. Because, the main concern of the party in power, whether at the Centre or the State, is to grab and retain power, further their corruption for party-funding and individual enrichment and the citizens and cities come last in their priority. Everybody knows this. So, what tough decisions can be taken to reduce these problems? Firstly, let us divert a bit.
Indore won the Swachh Bharat award for cleanest city in 2023. Ahmedabad won the award for 2024. There is one thing common between the two cities; neither of them is the State Capital. None of the major Metros that are State Capitals have won this award. Although the award by itself may not mean much, it is a reflection of why the Metro-Capital cities don’t make the list. The answer is simple: They are filled with POLITICAL FILTH. Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata are all political filth with constant disruptions, excessive govt operations and offices and, therefore, lesser freedom for local administrators to manage the city coupled with double the corruption in everything, real estate mafias, encroachments and uncontrolled population growth. Delhi has double the problem because it has two govts operating from the city.
The US Capital is a separate district called Washington (moving away from New York City and Philadelphia which were earlier capitals). Most people may not have heard of the Australian capital: Canberra. California’s capital is not Los Angeles or San Francisco but Sacramento. New York’s capital is not NYC but Albany. Capital of Illinois is not Chicago but Springfield. The capital of Florida is not Miami, it is Tallahassee. Wherever the new worlds were established, people understand that political activities are best separated from all other activities. Like Europe, India continues to lay a lot of stress on its ancient major cities as capitals but without the infrastructure and hygiene standards of Europe. Secondly, all the countries of Europe put together will not match the population of India.
Therefore, shifting of the political capital to a new complex where all politicians are dumped together will definitely ease the problems of these old, rickety, dilapidated cities. For instance, the recent Maratha agitation for Reservation brought the entire city to a grinding mess and even the HC had to step in to clear this nuisance because politicians will not act against their vote-bank scum. Ahmedabad doesn’t see such nuisance. I guess Indore or Surat too don’t see such political nuisance or agitations. Additionally, the following tough decisions need to be taken and enforced with severe consequences for offenders.
# As stated above, shift political capitals from the old, historic cities to lesser populated towns or build new towns.
# Completely remove all encroachments from roads and footpaths across the city. There should be no exception to this. Almost all suburban roads in Mumbai have shops extended on the footpath to the edge of the road. You have just have to walk down the lanes next to Andheri or Malad stations.
# Ban all SUVs within these metro cities and impose a daily toll on car-users in all the congested areas. London and NYC have such tolls. The toll should be heavy enough to discourage using SUVs. There is no alternative to this. Big trucks and heavy vehicles are already banned in some metros for most of the day.
# It is important NOT to make political Capital cities a nerve-centre of business, manufacturing and financial activities. Small exceptions can be giving smooth access to sea-ports. Offer large incentives to new businesses to start around satellite cities close to the capitals.
# Offer incentives to businesses and factories to shift out of Mumbai (and other capitals too). Many manufacturers in small “Galas” in Mumbai would be happy to shift to Vapi or Daman or Silvassa with lucrative incentives.
# As an extreme step, shift the Bombay Stock Exchange to a nearby smaller town. Dalal Street accounts for a heavy amount of traffic and congestion that Mumbai can no longer afford.
# Round up all residents of new slums created over the last 20 years and send them back to their home-towns if they don’t have a proper, legal residence in the city. Demolish all illegal shops and establishments without any relation to any other crime being committed.
# Stop all new commercial construction projects for a period of 5 years in the first stage. The only exception can be a new commercial building replacing the old one without occupying more space and with all modern features.
The above are some of the ways to reduce population and congestion not only in Mumbai but also other State Capitals that are old, historic cities. There is an EMERGENCY that is hanging over these cities that are facing DEATH. If no dramatic and serious action is taken from now on, these cities will continue to be a LIVING HELL.
Concluded.
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