The Hindu Business Line : Hiccups, yet Mumbai marches on!

A scene typical of Mumbai. The city contributes more than 50 per cent of India's total collection of direct taxes. But what has it got in return? — Paul Noronha

MENTION Mumbai, and immediately one's thoughts turn to money. How many times has one heard Mumbai being referred to as a gold mine, an El Dorado bursting with rags-to-riches stories. This was also the theme of the popular Johnny Walker song from a famous 1960s film, Milta hain yahan sub kuch, yahan milta nahin dil!

Mumbai has everything but does it have a heart? The common refrain would be how the city contributed more than 50 per cent of the nation's total collection of direct taxes. What have we got in return? Nothing! That is the complaint voiced by leaders from the city. No Metro. No ring railway, no funds for the sea link from Nariman Point to Bandra, or additional railway lines between Borivili and Virar on the Western Railway suburban line. Attend any meeting on the development of Mumbai, this is what you hear.

The fact is that, however rich it may be, Mumbai can never get enough. People coming from other cities are shocked at the prices of flats; despite the frequent media reports, real estate business is dull. Mumbai may be way down in the list of the world's costliest cities, but as far as India is concerned, the slogan for the city is: Earn money, spend it on rent.

It is not that the city is doing badly. Skyscrapers are coming up even in the distant suburbs. The Sensex, the indicator of the stock market prices, is zooming. With the arrival of huge malls even in the suburbs, the concept of shopping has changed dramatically. Every shop, restaurant or entertainment centre is full of people. Buses and trains groan with the weight of commuters. Mumbai is easily the busiest city in the country, people here don't walk, they run.

Since the introduction of liberalisation, Mumbai has gone global in a big way. Most international financial firms, with the sole aim of making the rich richer, have opened offices in the city and snap up the brightest and the best of the IIM graduates at dizzying salaries and perks. Of course, development in Mumbai may have benefited only a small section of its population, but that is how it goes. Yet, the overall effect of so much money being around has had some positive effects on the city's infrastructure. Traffic moves more smoothly, thanks to the construction of dozens of flyovers. The once-prestigious Nariman Point is no longer the exclusive monopoly of the corporates. Thanks to the movement of the big corporate offices to the suburbs, downtown areas such as Parel, Bandra-Kurla and Andheri are now upmarket. Five-star hotels are coming up in a big way, not in South Mumbai but in the suburbs.

Along with Gujarat, Punjab and, to a lesser extent, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, particularly Mumbai, has had the best industrial infrastructure. Despite the gloss and glitter of five-star culture, there has not been much development in this field.

The core industries continue to languish. There is no revival in the fortunes of the hundreds of textile hills, closed since the early 1980s after a prolonged strike. Losing all hopes of a possible recovery, thousands of affected workers have sought alternate sources of livelihood, including selling bananas and other consumer goods. Huge tracts of prime land, formerly owned by these mills, are now being gobbled up by builders' lobbies, with a token section being reserved for the State government's slum rehabilitation schemes. The once-busy Thane-Belapur industrial belt or areas like Parel lie silent.

There are no steps to revive the ailing chemical, engineering and allied industries. The focus is now on service industries such as call centres, which offer handsome salaries. While it is private initiative which made Mumbai what it is today, people are seriously concerned with the lack of government initiative in setting up new industries. The software sector is not enamoured of Mumbai, and preferred Bangalore and Hyderabad. There are murmurs of protest over the reported moves on the part of the Government to introduce reservation in job quotas in the private sector. "This is not necessary and will become a needless interference in our policies," say local industrialists. In fact, all-round progress in the city could have been greater if only the successive governments had kept away from political gimmicks. The latest is the ban on dance bars which provide harmless entertainment to millions of people. While the government has been a total failure in providing jobs, particularly for women, the closure of bars would put thousands of people out of jobs.

The Congress Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, taking a leaf out of Shiv Sena policies, urged that Mumbai should be for Mumbaikars and came down own heavily on the influx of outsiders. There had been so much talk on Mumbai being a second Shanghai. With the bars closed and nightlife curtailed, where will outsiders go for entertainment? Though considered `safer' than other cities, Mumbai's law and order problems are mounting, particularly the excesses on the part of the police. Encounter and custodial deaths are on the rise; last week, the city was shocked at the daylight rape of a teenager by a drunk policeman inside a police station at Marine Drive, one of the major tourist spots in the city.

Yet, Mumbai fascinates. It is the city which leads in Page 3 culture and yet makes a powerful movie condemning it. Movie stars are now brand ambassadors, with Amitabh Bachchan leading the pack. While traditional single theatres are rapidly closing down, there is a spurt in multiplexes, packing in fast food joints.

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