Wednesday 13th July 2011 is a date that not many are likely to forget, as it joins the growing list of dates that serve to remind India of her weaknesses and vulnerabilities. That we don’t seem to be doing enough to curb the scourge of terrorism is evident to even the most unlettered Bombayite, for despite all assurances, it is this city that appears to be bearing the brunt of terrorist attacks. While other cities in India have also faced terrorist acts, it is only Mumbai that has had to repeatedly deal with this mindless violence that targets all communities.
Why is it that this city has become a happy hunting ground for terrorists and why is it that successive governments are unable to control this menace. It is not that the central or state governments are not making efforts or do not have the funds to purchase equipment. It is not that the police do not have their intelligence network. Then why is this network not effective when it is known that law enforcement agencies have to succeed every time while a terrorist has to succeed only once. It is this truism that Rahul Gandhi was trying to articulate, unfortunately he did so rather clumsily at an inopportune moment.
Mumbai is and has always been a city in a hurry – “Bai bai, Mumbai mein sabko hich ghaai”. Nobody walks leisurely in this city, everyone is trying to get somewhere quickly, trying to swing a deal, trying to get there first. People have configured their home and work environments to complement each other and small businesses have sprung up to meet the felt needs of the bigger businesses. This is why it is so easy to do certain things in Mumbai. The city’s competitiveness ensures that it never sleeps. Nowhere else can you order a meal to be home delivered at midnight. Nowhere else does the system of hot food being delivered from homes in distant suburbs to offices in the city, work so effectively. The range of support one can get for one’s work is superb – documents picked up from your office for photocopying and delivered back neatly bound instantly, quick service from the nearest courier agent, cups of hot tea and coffee delivered through the day, cash picked up from the office for depositing reliably and regularly, cheques sent for cashing through the enterprising youngster earning a decent salary running oddjobs, the list goes on and on.
The city’s legendary energy has attracted businesses of every kind and has led to a number of similar industries being set up in their own distinct areas of operations – the financial district around the Reserve Bank and the Stock Exchange, the diamond and gold trading area in Zaveri Bazaar, the electronics market on Lamington Road, shipping and ship repair in the docks area, Bollywood in the suburbs and so many others.
The competition to attract buyers is intense, with each trying to outdo the other. Competition spills onto the road as well with temporary stalls set up on the roads and pavements outside the regular shops offering a cut price bargain for the same goods being sold inside. This is why it is such fun to shop in Crawford market area. Not only can you buy virtually anything under the sun inside a 1 km radius, but you can actually go shopping with Rs 100 and come away feeling pleased. Within that cheerful cacophony of people buying and selling are cars, scooters, cyclists, handcarts, roadside tea stalls, vendors, delivery trucks, buses, taxis, even the occasional cow, buffalo or goat and all the while, people and more people everywhere. Cars are virtually jammed next to each other without wasting an inch of space, bikes are parked right outside the shop and the van delivers your goods at your doorstep. No one minds if the road is partly blocked while the van unloads, which in any case is done deftly and quickly, because he has to go further for another delivery. In Mumbai, time is money. Wonderful for business.
But from the security point of view, this is a disaster waiting to happen. Large congregations of humanity and densely packed roads with no room for maneauvre do not support security and emergency imperatives. It is physically impossible to go through the process of stopping, scanning, searching and clearing thousands of people and their bags in a short time effectively, given the masses of humanity that throng these popular business destinations and the numbers of police and trained security personnel available. Even CCTV cameras installed in large numbers cannot prevent a terrorist strike unless there are sufficient personnel trained to sift through the mind numbing sea of faces that a single day’s video recordings would throw up, even if aided by face recognition software.
The people of Mumbai have become so used to constant and continuous motion that they simply do not accept any delay in their movement. All security initiatives in this city sooner or later fade away, either through a political lack of will, bureaucratic red tape, lack of interest by a corrupt police force, or a stubborn unwillingness to accept any curbs on personal liberty by an obdurate citizenry that regards it a birthright to demand safety and security from the government on the one hand while refusing to shed their blinkers on the other. Safety of the community depends on how much each person is willing to cooperate, which means, how much is each person willing to sacrifice so that everyone can benefit. That ‘how much’ in Mumbai is woefully small and can be judged from the fact that the diamond traders were unwilling to shift to newer and better facilities in BKC, citing one reason or another. On Wednesday it was the diamond traders in Zaveri Bazaar, the next time it could be the equally crowded financial sector around Dalal Street, or the popular and equally congested Linking Road, Bandra. Frankly it wouldn’t be a surprise if an IED was found smuggled into the docks either.
Given the sheer numbers of people packed into small spaces, there seems to be no alternative other than to decongest crowded areas and move some of these industries along with their supporting businesses into more organized zones built for the purpose. Undoubtedly, business deals would be interrupted for a while. Street vendors have to be cleared permanently and more effectively than the BMC’s eyewash exercises presently being conducted. No doubt it would make the street look rather dull and devoid of ‘chehel pehel’ but there is simply no option. When we allow new stalls to come up, it certainly adds to the colour but also adds new security challenges, when even the old ones haven’t been solved. The spread of stalls on Fashion Street is a case in point. The spillage of slums onto the land adjoining railway tracks is another. There have been cases of train commuters being hit by stones thrown by people walking or living nearby. The next time it could be a grenade.
I am not aware if there is any technology available that can scan the teeming humanity at Churchgate Station, for instance, automatically see through their metal tiffin boxes, sniff through briefcases, recognize suspicious faces, and indicate targets all in a jiffy, so that anti-terrorist teams can zero in on the likely hotspot efficiently and accurately without disturbing everyone. Till then, or till someone cracks the whip really hard, and areas get decongested and vehicles are parked in designated areas and people agree to stand patiently in queues, Mumbai’s famed energy will work against its own safety and security.
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