Nasser Munjee: Five days of solitude

The recent rainfall in Bombay city, especially in its northern regions, demonstrates both the spirit of its citizen and the callousness of its government. Despite the serious flooding which destroyed homes, brought transport to a halt, landslides that killed numerous people, the citizen stretched out their arms to each other helping, feeding and sheltering fellow citizen.

The government machinery, including the police force, was conspicuous by its absence; five days of solitude for citizens of the city. Communications by private FM radio and TV was active around the clock "" not so Doordarshan.

What has happened to officialdom? Is this a demonstration "" if one were required "" that the government takes intense interest in its citizens for only two activities. Collecting taxes and inviting votes which will get people into power to misuse the tax revenues so raised?

Despite disaster plans being made why was inaction and confusion so evident in one of the fiercest natural disasters the city has faced? Is there anything to suggest that a future response to a disaster will be any different from the one we experienced this time? What should be done?

The bottom line from which all else stems comes from one word: caring. Mumbai's citizens demonstrated caring; officialdom did not. If we do not care no amount of meetings and systems are going to help. Governance is about caring.

Unfortunately, our governance systems rather than being about government caring for its citizen is about rulers and subjects. The metaphor for this is the red light and siren which gets citizen out of the way for the rulers to pass "" something that is not prevalent in any but the most servile countries in the world. This has to stop.

The only way we can change this state of affairs is for corporate leaders and prominent citizens to get together and demand change for a responsible and caring government. They are not going to give it to you on their own.

We need to create immediately a corporate entity which is a public-private partnership endowed with a very large corpus (which will ensure that contributors take an interest) of Rs 500 crore with equal contribution from the government, managed professionally.

This entity "" let's call it, say, Bombay Infrastructure Development Company (BID) "" should participate in the planning for Mumbai through the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA); participate in the execution of works through the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC); ensure sound environmental planning; conceptualise Mumbai's critical spaces (mill lands, the Eastern Seaboard, Andheri, Trans Harbour Bridge); and put a plan together for upgrading basic infrastructure (sewerage, storm water drainage and transport) to serve the current population of the city combined with its rate of growth.

In effect, BID will gradually bring in public-private partnership (PPP) contracts for execution of planned activity, thus ensuring value for money for public investment and leveraging every rupee of public investment with private. It would drive the vision process of the city and also act as an inward investment agency attracting both domestic and foreign firms to the city and its environs.

Both the Government of India and the World Bank could work through BID for these programmes rather than through existing government agencies mired by apathy for so many years and the same tired old responses, not to speak of downright corruption which puts public purpose on the back burner.

BID would be responsible to its shareholders (corporate investors, citizens and the government) would work in the best traditions of corporate governance and would be fully and independently audited. In effect, it would put a professional body in place to tackle the neglect in city infrastructure over so many years, which in turn is responsible to the city and its constituents.

Unless we can harness our resources together (government, corporate and citizen), work professionally for a common purpose, put in place coherent assessments of the situation on the ground, investment needs, methods of execution and supervision of the projects, and look forward for the evolving requirements of the city, we are doomed to continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, with little results for the city or its citizen. The time to act is now. We have witnessed the consequences of inaction and years of neglect in infrastructure investment in our quest for unbridled growth and profits.

Let me leave you with two thoughts: first, a quotation from Alexander Pope in a letter to Edward Mount:

"Party-spirit, which at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few"

And second, Karl Popper, the great philosopher of science who wrote:

"We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant."

The time has come to shun madness and be intolerant of the intolerant both of which our governance system is so adept in creating if we are to begin to join the community of civilised people around the world.

The author is Infrastructure Chairman of Bombay First, a forum for the development of the city as a financial hub