Coming soon: A brand new city

Dynamic testing being conducted on Red Line 7 of the Mumbai Metro. Pic/Satej Shinde

I fully expect Bombay to feel like a First World city by the following December. I say this not because the government has been promising us a version of this since 2014 or so, but because I think optimism is all we have left, and we shouldn't squander it. If we think it, we can make it happen, and if it doesn't happen, we can always find someone to blame.

This time, however, I have statements to back up my sense of optimism. In July 2022, the chief minister of Maharashtra held a meeting with civic road department officials about making our roads pothole-free within the next two years. Apparently, this meeting was held a day after the BMC experimented with some pothole-filling solutions, which means they probably had a new PowerPoint presentation and deadlines based on new fact-finding missions. This promise was reiterated just weeks ago, with the announcement of a R2,000-crore beautification plan involving, among other magnificent and magical things, the repairing and resurfacing of all roads in the city. The chief minister also stated that they would last at least 30 years. That same week, he also promised that Thane would be free of potholes before the next monsoon.

It's difficult to think back a few decades, but I believe I must have been around 4 or 5 years old when the BMC first began trying to fix Bombay's notoriously unreasonable potholes. There have been many committees launched since then, and presumably a massive army of scientists and politicians working round the clock to try hot and cold mixes, but I am sure they are now closer to a permanent solution than they have ever been. If the chief minister says it will happen, I'm pretty sure it will, because no minister in living memory has promised us pothole-free roads before. A scientific breakthrough is around the corner, and we must be patient for just a few months more.

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That beautification plan is another reason for my hope and joy, because I expect all kinds of wonderful surprises at every corner before this year is out. New coastal roads where we don't expect them, probably, or a flyover connecting two other flyovers just to add a bit of spice to daily commutes on the Western Express Highway. Maybe the mangroves will be replaced by a mall, or Aarey may be paved over for a new aquarium. The possibilities boggle the mind. I expect some out-of-the-box thinking, too, such as entertainment on SV Road for those driving for four hours to get from Bandra to Borivli. It's these little touches that make world class cities so memorable for those who live in them.

This isn't to say there isn't room for improvement, of course. Little has been said about other issues related to crime, unemployment, malnutrition, poverty, public infrastructure, or those minor communal incidents that seem to flare up every other week. Still, if we get better roads by December, vehicle owners will be happy, and everyone knows they are the most important residents of any city aspiring to be world class.

I must also point out that Maharashtra is stepping into the future by paying more attention to some residents who have been ignored for too long: women. I refer to the latest panel set up by the most caring government we have had: the ‘Intercaste/Interfaith marriage-family coordination committee (state level)' tasked with gathering "detailed information" about couples in such marriages, and maternal families of the women involved if they are estranged.

This brilliant committee has been set up by the state's women and child development department, which has consistently done everything in its power to ensure that the women of Maharashtra feel safer than ever. I am aware that reports from the National Crime Bureau Records in 2021 placed Maharashtra among the top three states in crimes against women, but I'm pretty sure those statistics were based on some misunderstanding that ought to be resolved by a new committee any day now. If information about interfaith and intercaste marriages doesn't eliminate the problems facing Maharashtra's women, what will?

Things have never been better for women in our city and state, and every other resident in general, which is why I have a huge smile on my face when I think of what 2023 has in store. When travel magazines put out their yearend reports on the World's Best Cities this year, I have no doubt that Bombay will outrank New York, Tokyo and London.

When he isn't ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira

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The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper