What is it going to take to have a Clean Bombay?

Getting back to Bombay after a year and a half, I do notice some positive changes in the city. For starters, the gutters in the suburbs have been sealed and most of the streets have pavements. There is definitely much less competition between pedestrians and vehicles on the road. Many roads have been broadened and public transport and infrastructure projects are finally taking off. The Andheri-Ghatkopar section of the metro should be ready by 2011 and the Bandra-Worli sea link, at long last, will be opened to traffic next year! To add to this, the new buses in the city are supposedly more fuel-efficient, comfortable and disabled-friendly and the newer compartments of the local trains are more suitable for standees, an obvious requirement.

The sheer number of malls and multiplexes that have come up in the city ensure that there are more retail and other kinds of jobs available. Even many of the slums are being demolished and the slum-dwellers are being re-housed in the same locality in large sky-scrapers. I do know of the scams by the builder-politician nexus, but won’t go into details about this. The city and suburbs are definitely getting better for a majority of the citizens. But age-old mentalities with regard to civic sense aren’t changing as quickly as the city.

It’s easy to blame the poor, uneducated masses and slum dwellers for dirtying the city but these people deserve less blame than those so-called well to do in the city. My experiences are a testament to this. While on a drive in an up-market suburb in the city, I saw a man in an expensive car rolling down his window. He then spat blood-red spittle (no doubt with pan masala) on to the street. The man then looked at me and asked me for instructions to a private bank in the locality and I replied by telling him that he’s a pig. There are many such pigs among the well-to-do in the city. Absolutely well-dressed men and women have no qualms about littering in the city. Given the tropical climate and the sheer number of people in Bombay, it’s no wonder that the city is one of the filthiest in the world.

Many argue that people litter in many countries but the civic authorities are quick to clean up the mess. It’s a given that the Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika, as the BMC is known as is one of the most inept and corrupt governing bodies in the world and we can’t expect too much from them. I wonder though, whether a Singapore-style cleanliness code can be initiated in select areas of the city on a pilot basis. Let’s just take a couple of Bombay’s suburbs and set a special task force of the police to keep an eye on litter-bugs and those that spit, urinate and defecate on the streets. Start a system where someone gets fined the first time and moves up to actually getting a nice caning for being a repeat-offender. I am convinced that the so-called human rights activists like Arundhathi Roy will organize mass protests initially. Such people would prefer viruses to spread and the population of rats to multiply (creating ideal conditions for a plague) than for Bombayites to have a civilized city. However, the only solution to the filth in the city may be the putting of the fear of God into the people that trash it.

Or why don’t we outsource this operation to local Shiv Sena goons? These young men can spot an embracing couple from ten miles away on Valentine’s Day. It takes so little to divert the attention of these people to those that are polluting Aamchi Mumbai and the great Maharashtra.

What happens when I try spreading this idea around in my suburban Bombay locality? I am politely reminded that the buildings and their compounds are clean so who cares about the streets!! Living overseas has the advantage of not having to deal with these ostriches but then you can’t just enjoy the hospitality of other countries and not invite friends to India.

If we are to ever look civilized in the eyes of the rest of the world, it has to start with ensuring that our major cities are clean. Over 5 million foreigners will visit India this year and a large number of them will start their trip through Bombay. First impressions usually last.

Afterthought: The suburb of Bandra is very proud of the walkway and seaside promenade in an area known as Bandstand. This impressive stretch of the suburb was a combination of piles of garbage, a gambler’s den and a place for drunkards and druggies to hang out. The resident’s association of the area took the initiative and forced the authorities to develop the area into the beautiful and clean haven that it is now. But the ostriches of other suburbs in the city couldn’t care less.