Mumbai after 26/7 Deluge: Issues and Concerns in Urban Planning

Abstract

There has been euphoria among the government circles recently to develop Mumbai as a world-class city before the 26/7 floods hit the city. The cities like Shanghai or Singapore were often cited as benchmarks for planning and development of Mumbai in the next decade. However, the dream has been shattered by the unprecedented flood of July 26. Lack of urban planning, unprecedented rains and the failure of the early warning system are some of the important factors for the tragedy. It is the time that Mumbai's planning and developmental discourses can be unshackled from an illusion of Shanghai or Singapore.

Impacts of land use–land cover change and urbanization on flooding: A case study of Oshiwara River Basin in Mumbai, India

“…With the increasing pressure of population growth due to people migrating from all over the country, there is severe stress on land, infrastructure and water resources (Samant and Subramanyan, 1998;Gupta, 2007;Zope et al, 2015). Horizontal growth and infrastructural facilities that help to cope with the needs of the increasing population are limited because the city faces a scarcity of land as it is surrounded by sea, hills, and creek (Bhagat and Guha, 2006). The needs of the population are met through LULC change and encroachments along the flow path of rivers, thereby leading to increase in urbanization.…”

Multilevel risk governance and urban adaptation policy

“…The Mumbai case study (Ranger et al, this volume) illustrates this, revealing highly uncertain results due to lack of data and model uncertainty, combined with high decision stakes from an economic and human point of view (see also Bhagat et al 2006;OECD 2010). In that case, scientific results are important, but are clearly insufficient to inform a decision in the absence of a strong political process to assist with the interpretation of the uncertain science in the local political context.…”

Assessment of water quality using cluster analysis in coastal region of Mumbai, India

“…The nallah at Cleaveland Bunder carrying about 54 mld of untreated wastewater joins the seashore between Worli and Dadar (Dhage et al 2006). Cluster III comprised of Mahim corresponding to HP site that receives heavy pollution through Mithi river which carries garbage, raw sewage as well as industrial and hazardous waste having huge organic load (MPCB 2005;Bhagat et al 2006;Kamini et al 2006).…”