Mumbai beaches badly in need of a makeover

Hawkers, beggars, pick-pockets and petty criminals, encroachers and eunuchs have over the years taken over once quiet beaches. Yet, millions of residents and visitors head for the coastline every weekend, hoping to get in a breath of fresh air.

The Gateway of India is one of the most popular destinations for visitors to Mumbai, and scores of motor-boats – operated by small-time operators – provide joy-rides to them. However, to enter a boat, one has to navigate slippery and treacherous steps, hop across several boats before heading into the harbour.

Often, women and aged persons can be seen stumbling on the steps, some even falling as they try to cross the bobbing boats. Sadly, no one in authority – the police, the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC), the collector’s office, the Navy, the Bombay Port Trust – have been able to sort out this issue for years.

The absence of a regulatory authority is evident even along the beaches. Except for a couple of beaches, most of Mumbai’s coastal areas are unregulated. Chowpatty in south Mumbai is one of the few exceptions, though slumlords constantly try to encroach the beach by putting up shacks that they rent out to the poor.Efforts to clean up Chowpatty were undertaken in the late 1990s by the late Pramod Navalkar, a Shiv Sena MP, who was also a minister. Navalkar managed to get all the itinerant hawkers – including the eunuchs, the ‘maalish-wallas’ (who provided a nourishing oil massage to the cabbies and other petty traders) – removed from the beach.

But powerful slumlords have in recent months been trying to encroach on the beach, especially towards Marine Drive. The state of other beaches such as Shivaji Park, Juhu, Versova, Aksa, Manori, Marve and Gorai is equally bad, with hawkers having established a permanent presence.

Unfortunately, the BMC – which is supposed to ensure the safety of visitors venturing into the sea – has failed miserably in its task and every year there are scores of drowning incidents occurring along Mumbai’s coast. The BMC usually hires temporary lifeguards. Most lifeguards, however, are conspicuous by their absence.

The BMC has for the first time decided to appoint about half-a-dozen permanent lifeguards to monitor the beaches. The civic body has also been forced to invest about Rs25 million – following a Bombay High Court order – in life-saving and safety equipment such as watch towers, jet-skis, rescue boats and jackets for lifeguards and the victims and even first-aid equipment.

The court has also directed the BMC to put up warning signs near stretches that are considered dangerous for swimmers. The tragedy is that official agencies in Mumbai such as the BMC have to be pushed into providing basic services to its citizens, tasks for which it already levies hefty taxes. — nithin@khaleejtimes.com