Mumbai: City of Dreams or Hopelessness?
The city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is a city of huge contrasts. A population of over 21 million, with some of the richest men in India like Mukesh Ambani living in 27 storey apartment for just a family of five and more than 11 million people living in slums such as Dharavi (Asia’s largest slum) occupying less than 13% of the city land area (!) without any basic facilities. Any govt. priority one would have imagined should have been towards directing its efforts to improve the conditions to those unfortunate lots who have been migrating to this city for several decades now, in search of livelihood and who are real wealth creators of this city. But in the minds of the state/ central govt. the slum dwellers constitute probably the last priority and are busy today fantasizing Mumbai as the next Singapore or a Shanghai in the making.