Mumbai after 26/7 Deluge: Some Issues and Concerns in Regional Planning

The complex processes of urbanization along with the rapid expansion of urban population have changed the traits of natural hazards and cities have now become ‘crucibles of risk’. Sometimes, even the location of cities place them at greater risk from climate hazards such as cyclones, flooding, etc. These events underscore the vulnerability to natural hazards faced by the urban people, in general, and the poor, in particular, especially those living in sub-standard housing in the most vulnerable locations. Among the recent incidents of such kind, the incessant and torrential rains in the afternoon of July 26, 2005, not only caused deluge in Mumbai, but wrought equal havoc on the weak and the powerful. Why did Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, could not avert such an environmental disaster? In this paper, an attempt has been made to examine the role of various factors, which either in isolation or in conjugation with other factors might have made the circumstances more vulnerable for this urban deluge. Coupled with this, the paper discusses the need for a planning document which is prepared in the context of demographic dynamics and its significance to city planners and managers