Recent years have seen a great focus on making Indian cities global cities. For urban planners and dreamers, Mumbai urgently needs north-south and cast-west connectivity. Towards this, they argue for the need to construct an'express ring freeway' to circle the city 'such that a freeway can be accessed from any point in the city in less than 10 minutes'. 'Quick entry and exit', and 'efficient traffic dispersal are seen as critical to the smooth functioning of the city...
For the less privileged the streets have a different role to play. They are more than freeways of connectivity. Streets. for good or bad. all too often become effectively bazaars, and meals combining the different purposes of pilgrimage, recreation (transporation) and economic exchange. As people blur the boundaries between publick and private space by living on the street. buying and sellign, eating, drinking tea, playing cricekt or even just standing, urban planners point to how these activities impeded traffic and cause congestion.
In order to decongest, poor poeple are shifted to the outskirts. In the Vision Mumbai document prepared by the private consultancy from McKinsey...mass housing for the poor is being planned in the salt pan lands outside the city. What happens to their livelihood? The long quote below captures the voice of the poor.
"We are in fact human earthmovers and tractors. We levelled the land first. We have contributed to the city. We carry your shit out of the city. I don't see citizens' groups dredging sewers and digging roads. The city is not for the rich only. We need each other. I don't beg. I wash your clothes. Women can go to work because we are there to look after their children. The staff in Mantralary, the collectorate, the BMC, even the police live in slums. Because we are there, women can walk safely at night...Groups such as Bombay First talk about Mumbai a world class city. How can it be a world-class city without a place for its poor? (Anand 2006: 3422)
