Sweet water & the city-state dreams of Mumbai

Exhibiting characteristic ambivalence, the Vilasrao Deshmukh government woke up to the mystery water, which drew hordes of people to Mahim from all over the state, after a night of idiotic frenzy.

The CM warned the people against drinking the sweet water. Government agencies followed suit. The point is that, like last July’s deluge, it was a bit too late, though no disaster happened so far. But what if the water was poisoned? No need to guess.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the richest municipal body in the country whose budget exceeds the proportions of many small state governments, said late on Saturday that the water was unfit for drinking. Thanks very much.

And the revelation is that it contained low levels of salt, which could be the reason why it was dubbed sweet. It could be “ an upsurge of ground water” as the state Pollution Control Board says or low levels of salt as BMC claims. But the authorities failed to comb the area to prevent people from flirting with danger.

In a megapolis like Mumbai too many authorities hold jurisdiction over the civic domain. This makes it easy for a free-for-all passing the buck game, if the sweet water were to assume dangerous proportions. Sena-ruled BMC can blame government and government can wash its hands off the Mahim creek itself.

A teeming megapolis like Mumbai needs a different kind of governance and cannot be run under the guidance of a State Government just because it is headquartered here or a Civic body, which is just a battle ground of electoral politics. This is another country carved out of every part of the vast nation that is India. A wonderland turning into a graveyard. Remnants of a dream republic.

The moral of the story is that Mumbai cannot anymore be treated as the capital city of Maharashtra. Mumbai and Maharashtra are two distinct entities. Mumbai is a city-state akin to Singapore. Now, can we have a BMC/Govt joint panel to visit Singapore please?

*****************************************************
For the academic inclined.

Maharashtra Pollution Control Board’s logic:

The sweet water could be a result of an upsurge of ground water, resulting from heavy rainfall. Due to heavy rains, ground water may get fully charged and exert excess pressure, causing cracks in the rocky bottom. Ground water tends to come out through these cracks. Since it is lighter than fresh water it will float on the surface.