Behind Mumbai's coronavirus crisis: Poor planning, unbridled greed

Urban planners and real estate experts say bad town planning in Mumbai and rising deaths during the ongoing pandemic are a "sad reality".

In 2007, the Maharashtra government, run by the Congress, set up a committee led by economist Percy Mistry to recommend how Mumbai could be converted into an international financial hub.

The idea was to take advantage of Mumbai’s geographical location between Singapore and Dubai and convert it into a world-class city.

Among other issues, the report pointed out Mumbai’s deficiencies in converting into an international financial centre (IFC).

These included crumbling housing in dilapidated buildings; poor road/rail mass transit as well as the absence of water-borne transport; absent arterial high-speed roads/urban expressways; the poor quality of airports, airlines, and