Citizens' woes galore as Mumbai is set to vote in civic elections soon

Indian Express

8 hours ago

After a delay of more than three years, Mumbai is finally set to vote in civic elections later this year or in early 2026. As new corporators are set to take guard in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — the country's richest municipal body, several civic issues such as parking, walkability, water cut and waterlogging continue to plague the city. Over the past three years, the BMC had been under an administrator's rule, which essentially meant a top-down approach. However, whether it was the Mayor's rule or the administrator's, basic issues of citizens were overlooked. Here are some of the key issues faced by citizens:
Non-uniform water supply
Mumbai's water supply is dependent on seven lakes — Tulsi, Vihar, Tansa, Bhatsa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vaitarna and Modak Sagar. As the catchment areas of these lakes get filled during monsoon, the water is used throughout the year to cater to the city's requirements.
According to BMC data, Mumbai's water demand is 4,250 million liters daily (MLD), while the civic body is able to supply only 3,800 MLD, leaving a deficit of 450 MLD. The civic body's record also shows that around 1,400 MLD or 34% of the water is lost due to leakage. This leads to multiple water cuts every year to balance water supply across the 24 municipal wards.
'In Mumbai, the BMC doesn't have a holistic plan to supply water. To ensure there is uniformity in supply, water cut is proposed every day and supply in certain areas is stopped to cater to demand in a different area,' former Congress corporator Asif Zakaria told the Indian Express.
To augment its water supply, the BMC had floated a tender in 2023 to set up a desalination plant. However, the tender was scrapped after it failed to attract a certain number of bidders. The same tender was floated last month with certain changes and the BMC also mooted a proposal of setting up a dam at Gargai area in Palghar. However, as the project will require cutting of a large number of trees, it is awaiting green clearance from the government.
'In the past three years, there was an administrator's rule in the BMC that could have easily gone ahead with one of the proposals as they don't require political clearances from the committees which otherwise would have been there. Yet they have failed to show any results, meanwhile the issue of poor water supply continues to persist in the city,' Zakaria said.
Pedestrian-unfriendly city
In its 2025-26 budget, the BMC earmarked Rs 100 crore to upgrade walkability infrastructure in Mumbai. This was not the first time that the BMC announced its intention towards pedestrian infrastructure. In 2016, the BMC brought in a pedestrian-first policy, as part of which a 'safe school' project was implemented in 2020 with an objective to create pedestrian-friendly areas outside Mumbai schools by widening footpaths, improving road signages and limiting the driving speed. While the project was implemented outside schools in Worli and Byculla, it lost momentum after the body of elected representatives was dissolved in March 2022.
Rishi Aggarwal, director of Mumbai Sustainability Centre and the Walking Project, said that the basic reason why these policies never get implemented on a large scale is because of lack of vision. 'The authorities need to come up with a holistic plan and stick to a deadline. All pedestrian zones should be reclaimed from hawkers, after which only walkability measures should be implemented,' Aggarwal told The Indian Express.
Makarand Narwekar, former municipal corporator from Colaba, said, 'Bureaucrats often fail to understand the ground level issues. In the past few years, we have seen the administration spending exorbitant money on Mumbai Beautification Plan, which has little or no value in terms of civic upgradation. As former corporators, we have mooted multiple projects related to parking and walkability to the authorities, but getting them implemented was challenging,' Narwekar said.
Flooding of subways
The Andheri subway in the western suburbs gets submerged every monsoon. Last year, the subway was shut down at least 35 times between June and October. In 2023, it was shut down for at least 21 times during this period. Similarly, the Khar and Malad subway in the western suburbs also get shut during the monsoons, leading to traffic congestion.
'One of the major challenges that we (BMC) are facing to keep these particular points flood-free is the topography of the subways. These are watershed areas where the gradient is very steep and rain water gushes in at a very high speed. Therefore, unless any large scale structural intervention is done, it will continue to be a challenge to keep the subway flood-free,' a civic official told The Indian Express.
The location of the subways are mostly saucer-shaped, which means the entry and exit point of the subway is elevated and has a slope like curvature due to which water from the adjoining areas travels down. Near the Andheri subway, the Mogra Nullah, which originates two kilometres away from it, passes downstream touching the subway. Whenever the nullah overflows, water enters the subway.
Last year, the BMC had proposed a Rs 200-crore ambitious proposal to curb flooding at Andheri subway. The civic body's objective was to augment the existing drainage system to ensure that the water carrying capacity increases. The civic authorities had also planned an additional drainage line that would divert the flow of water in a separate direction towards the western side, eventually discharging the water to the nearby creek.
'During our feasibility study and estimation for the project, we found out that the carrying capacity of the drains could be increased to tackle an average rainfall of 55 mm. At present, the carrying capacity is just 20 mm and after the implementation of the proposed works, we would get only an additional cover of 35 mm of rainfall. Spending Rs 200 crore just to tackle 35 mm of rainfall will not be worth it and we had to cancel this project to chalk out a more feasible project,' an official said.
Holistic parking policy
Mumbai has the highest vehicle density among Metro cities. According to state government data, Mumbai's vehicle density is 2,300 cars per kilometre (km). The data also shows that the number has increased exponentially in the previous years. In 2019, the city's vehicle density was 1,840 per km, while in 2014, it was 1,150 per km.
However, there is a dearth of parking spaces. In many cases, people park their vehicles on roads, leading to traffic congestion. The BMC also maintains its own street parking in areas such as Nariman Point and Colaba. The civic body's first parking policy was adapted in 2017 and was presented in the civic standing committee. Later, the BMC proposed the formulation of a Mumbai Parking Authority (MPA) in 2021, which will be an exclusive body to upgrade and regulate Mumbai's entire parking infrastructure. The proposal was then endorsed by former mayor Kishori Pednekar and the MPA was proposed to be incorporated in Mumbai's Municipal Corporation Act (MMC).
However, four years since its inception, the project is yet to see the light of the day. According to a senior civic official privy to the development, the BMC had sent the proposal to the state government for approval and a decision is awaited.
'Since the project requires amendment of the MMC Act, it needs to be approved by the state government first as there is no elected representative in the civic body. The matter was sent to the state government in the last assembly session, however, they are awaiting clearances,' the official said.
Bio-Medical Waste treatment facility
Despite the Bombay High Court's (HC) order to relocate the city's bio medical waste treatment facility outside the city limits, the BMC continues to operate it at Govandi — one of the densely populated pockets in the eastern suburbs.
A biomedical waste plant is a treatment facility that processes biological and medical waste. This plant has been operational since 2007-08 and is being maintained by the BMC through a private firm — SMS Envoclean Private Limited. The facility emits smoke after the waste items are processed in an incinerator. According to local residents, this smoke is one of the primary contributors to pollution in the area. Citizens and former elected representatives have been holding protests, urging the administration to relocate it.
In October 2022, a plea was filed in the Bombay High Court (HC) by residents of Deonar, seeking immediate closure of the facility. The plea also sought penalty against the private contractor and shifting of at least half of the biomedical waste that at present is being received by Govandi plant to some other plant outside the city limits. Following this, the court sought replies and in its reply, SMS Envoclean Private Limited, had assured the HC that it will relocate the plant to a new site after obtaining necessary permissions within 13 months. In 2023, the HC directed the civic authorities to immediately relocate the plant.
However, despite the court order, the plant continues to be operational at the same place.
Speaking to The Indian Express, a representative of the SMS Envoclean said, 'The process of relocating the plant is underway. We are acquiring land at Taloja but some permissions are pending.'
Meanwhile, a civic official said that unless the new plant is fully ready, the Govandi facility will continue to operate. 'In Mumbai, biological waste from all hospitals come to this facility. So if we stop this centre overnight, the city's entire medical system will collapse. We have to wait till the government sanctions all the relevant permissions for this project,' the official said.