Glossary AAI Airports Authority of India IFEJ International Federation of ACS Additional Chief Secretary Environmental Journalists AGNI Action for good Governance and IITM Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology Networking in India ILS Instrument Landing System AIR All India Radio IMD Indian Meteorological Department ALM Advanced Locality Management ISRO Indian Space Research Organisation ANM Auxiliary Nurse/Midwife KEM King Edward Memorial Hospital BCS Bombay Catholic Sabha MCGM/B Municipal Council of Greater Mumbai/ BEST Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply & Bombay Transport Undertaking. MCMT Mohalla Committee Movement Trust. BEAG Bombay Environmental Action Group MDMC Mumbai Disaster Management Committee BJP Bharatiya Janata Party MDMP Mumbai Disaster Management Plan BKC Bandra Kurla Complex. MoEF Ministry of Environment and Forests BMC Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation MHADA Maharashtra Housing and Area BNHS Bombay Natural History Society Development Authority BRIMSTOSWAD BrihanMumbai Storm MLA Member of Legislative Assembly Water Drain Project MMR Mumbai Metropolitan Region BWSL Bandra Worli Sea Link MMRDA Mumbai Metropolitan Region CAT Conservation Action Trust Development Authority CBD Central Business District. MbPT Mumbai Port Trust CBO Community Based Organizations MTNL Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. CCC Concerned Citizens’ Commission MSDP Mumbai Sewerage Disposal Project CEHAT Centre for Enquiry into Health and MSEB Maharashtra State Electricity Board Allied Themes MSRDC Maharashtra State Road Development CG Coast Guard Corporation Ltd. CII Confederation of Indian Industry MUIP Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project CJP Citizens for Justice and Peace MUTP Mumbai Urban Transport Project CM Chief Minister NAPM National Alliance of People’s Movement CR Central Railways NEERI National Environmental Engineering CRZ Coastal Regulation Zone Research Institute CS Chief Secretary NIO National Institute of Oceanography CST Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus RAF Rapid Action Force CWPRS Central Water and Power Research Station REL Reliance Energy Limited CZMP Coastal Zone Management Plan RMC Regional Meteorological Centre DCR Development Control Rules R&R Relief and Rehabilitation DGP Director General of Police SBI State Bank Of India DIG Deputy Inspector General SBTC State Blood Transfusion Council DMC Disaster Management Cell SGNP Sanjay Gandhi National Park DMP Disaster Management Plan SPP Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp DP Development Plan SRA Slum Rehabilitation Authority DWR Doppler Weather Radar SRS Slum Rehabilitation Society EMU Electric Multiple Units SSP Slum Sanitation Project EOC Emergency Operations Centre SWD Storm Water Drainage Department FEJI Forum of Environmental Journalists TDR Transfer Development Rights of India TISS Tata Institute of Social Sciences FSI Floor Space Index WR Western Railways GIS Geographic Information System UDD Urban Development Department GKSS Girni Kamgar Sangarsh Samiti ULCRA Urban Land Ceiling Regulation Act HUDCO Housing and Urban Corporation Limited YASHDA Yashwantrao Chavan Academy for IAS Indian Administrative Services Development Administration Mumbai Marooned: An Enquiry into Mumbai Floods 2005 1 Index CONCERNED CITIZENS’ COMMISSION AN ENQUIRY INTO THE MUMBAI FLOODS, 2005 Sr. No Chapter Pg No I Introduction 6 I.a. Overview of events on July 26, 2005 6 I.b. Rationale for the commission 8 I.c. Composition of the panel 8 I.d. Acknowledgements 9 I.e. Terms of Reference 9 I.f. Methodology used 10 II Findings 11 II.a Relief and rehabilitation II.b. Administration’s response to the disaster 1) Disaster Management Cell of Maharashtra Government. and BMC 2) Political machinery 3) Police 4) BMC 5) MMRDA 6) Fire Brigade 7) Coast Guard 8) IMD 9) AAI 10) Home Guards II.c Drainage shortcomings II.d Sanitation and Waste Management II.e Public Health System II.f Travel and Transportation 1) BEST 2) Railways 3) Private Transport II.g Housing II.h Interference with Ecology 1) The Mithi river/Mahim Creek a) Worli-Bandra Sea Link b) Bandra Kurla Complex c) Airport issue 2) Dahisar, Poisar and other rivers/nallahs 3) Reclamation and filling of creeks, marshy land / open spaces 4) Encroachment 5) Quarrying II.i Communications System 56 II.j Electricity 57 II.k Role of the Media 58 II.l Loss of Life and Property 61 II.m Rani Jadhav Committee Report 63 III Recommendations 64 III.A. Short term recommendations III.A.1 Disaster Management Plan and Disaster Management Cell III.A.2 Relief and rehabilitation. 2 Mumbai Marooned: An Enquiry into Mumbai Floods 2005 CONCERNED CITIZENS’ COMMISSION AN ENQUIRY INTO THE MUMBAI FLOODS, 2005 Index Sr. No Chapter Pg No III.A.3 Administration a) Role of Fire Brigade b) Role of Police c) Meteorology Department d) Role of Home Guards and Civil Defense e) Role of Coast Guard/Armed Forces III.A.4 Infrastructure a) Storm Water Drainage b) Sewage and Sanitation c) Waste Management d) Transport III.A.5 Housing III.A.6 Communications III.A.7 Electricity III.A.8 Public Health System III.A.9 Natural Drainage a) Mithi river b) Dahisar, Poisar and other rivers c) Open spaces, Salt pans, Mangroves, Creeks d) Quarrying 75 III.B Long term (Urban planning) recommendations III.B.1 Carrying Capacity III.B.2 Transparency III.B.3 Health III.B.4 Public Amenities III.B.5 Pending and proposed projects and their impacts a) Slum Redevelopment Scheme b) Bandra-Worli Nariman Point Sea Links c) Sewri-Nhava Sea Link d) Mills Lands development 79 III.B.6 Halting in-migration through development of employment opportunities in the hinterland. III.B.7 Climate change and Mumbai city. IV Conclusions 83 V Annexures 85-126 Mumbai Marooned: An Enquiry into Mumbai Floods 2005 3 I. Introduction I. A) OVERVIEW OF EVENTS ON JULY 26, 2005 weeks. Electricity supply was cut. The city’s cell phone network also faltered, leaving families with July 26, 2005 has gone down as a day no no way of verifying the whereabouts of their loved Mumbaikar will forget. A record 994 mm (37.2 ones. Mumbai airport was closed, with water inches) of rain within 24 hours (75% of the flowing over the runway and even through the downpour – 709 mm — fell in a five-hour period terminal buildings. Public transport came to a between 2.30 pm and 7.30 pm), widespread grinding halt, marooning lakhs of people at flooding and the loss of lives and property, the different points in the city. All India Radio reported virtual shutdown of the ‘city that never sleeps’ for that 150,000 people were stranded across two days (more in some areas) ensured that all different suburban railway stations, some for residents will forever remember the Mumbai almost 24 hours. It was only by the afternoon of Floods of July 2005. One of the most crucial July 27, 2005 that some sectors of the suburban issues is whether this is actually ‘once-in-a- rail system partly commenced operations. Never hundred-years’ incident or whether it is the first before have all three of Mumbai’s suburban rail time that this phenomenon has taken place over lines been shut down. For 18 hours, Mumbai’s one of the few locations where it could be lifeline, its suburban rail system, was completely measured and recorded. This is important since inoperable. very heavy spot rainfall has been recorded historically throughout the Konkan districts. With the airport closed and flooding and landslides affecting rail and road links, India’s Starting at about 12.30 pm on the 26th till financial capital was literally cut off from the rest 5:30 am on the 27th (earlier in the northern of the country for a day. suburbs), the torrential rain caught residents unawares. A peculiar feature of the rain was that In some low-lying areas, the water was 10 the southern island city received just 73.4 mm to 15 ft deep. Open gutters and nallahs turned (2.89 inches) in the same period. Within a few into raging rivers. Thousands of homes in the hours of the rain, areas like Kurla, Kalina, Andheri, Mumbai’s sprawling slums were either washed Saki Naka, Chembur, Govandi, Malad were away or damaged beyond repair. The middle and reported flooded. upper class were not spared either, with At least one-third of the surface area of the floodwaters entering and even completely city is believed to have been flooded. Most phone submerging ground floor apartments in many lines were lost or severely disrupted, for periods areas. As can be imagined, the loss to life and ranging from a few hours to, in some cases, property was considerable. The fact that the floodwaters did not recede for days in some areas compounded the situation and led to outbreaks of diseases such as leptospirosis, diarrhoea, malaria, dengue etc. A reason given by most government and administration officials for the breakdown of systems on July 26 was that this rainfall was unprecedented. This is however misleading at best. There have been other instances of daily rainfall that has approached these levels, for example the Thane District Gazetteer mentions maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/ 481 mm of rain in 1951. Similarly, the Nashik 1 http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/nasik/004%20General/003%20Climate.htm 2 http://www.imdmumbai.gov.in/erf_scz.htm 4 Mumbai Marooned: An Enquiry into Mumbai Floods 2005 Introduction July 26 was ‘the highest in a 100 years’. Moreover, this should definitely not be used to excuse shortcomings and incompetence on the part of the administration. Despite the havoc that Mumbai faced on that day, and indeed for the next few days, the spirit of the ordinary Mumbaikar must be praised. Stories abound of strangers risking their lives and belongings to help fellow citizens, people of different communities forgetting their differences, even in areas historically prone to communal violence, wet maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/ and weary office goers trudging home being revived with tea and biscuits offered free of cost by district Gazetteer mentions a record of 473.7 mm residents en route and much much more.