And that muddling through monsoon’s disaster days is now our de facto response, a strategy we adopt to ride out the rough days. There’s no saying when we will become human flotsam or jetsam taken by the flood waters, washed up ashore on Mumbai’s beaches and streets. Between them, the political class and the construction lobby, they have ensured that the city’s natural drainage systems lie wrecked while the built system of stormwater drains is simply insufficient on high rain days. Worse, Mumbai’s flood management is not a significant aspect of its Development Plan for the next 15 years. They float over the high rain day crisis, year after year, secure in the knowledge that we will criticise them for a day or two, and return to muddling through the monsoon.

Source: Hindustan Times July 03, 2019 18:43 UTC