I appreciate the Mumbai First Initiative by HT.

Earlier too; I was very much impressed at the Mumbai Project campaign in Nov-Dec 2007 and preserved the plans dreamt upon. Now, HT has surveyed the state of Mumbais infrastructure in pre-monsoon campaign and presented the dire picture of Indias financial capital. After exposing and criticizing the civic administration, I think, now definitely the road ahead is to set-up a platform for constructive suggestions and action, a conglomeration of citizen groups for making our civic administration accountable and urban governance effective. Instead of asking fruitless who-is-responsible? type questions, resulting in blame-game explosions and only fuelling the dirty politics, we should move aggressively towards the solutions. The parent body (in fact bodies ) MCGM, MMRDA, MSRDC, CIDCO, MHADA, BPT, etc. are running the administration of Mumbai city just like seven men of Indostan trying to understand the elephant. And furthermore, we have several civic bodies for an integrated Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). I say integrated because natural resources like water, calamities like floods, local railway breakdowns and citizens the stakeholders have no boundaries like Navi Mumbai, Thane, Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhyander, and so-on. There should be one single body or authority for entire MMR. If divisions are sought, they should be function-wise utilities say integrated Mumbai Metropolitan Transport authority, Water supply and Sewerage Utility, etc. for entire MMR. There should be constructive action to end the wows of citizens and sympathetic conditions of slum-dwellers and local train commuters. What is the pride in having centers of intelligence like IIT, VJTI, NITIE, IGIDR, TISS, etc. if we cannot engage them and utilize their expertise in improving the civic administration. It seems govt. bodies are exploiting and local administration is wasting huge money and academic research is just being stacked in libraries. The current mess of governance is testimony to this fact. May HTs Mumbai First initiative be a rising sun on the horizon!