Two notches down – more in store?

Read this morning in newspaper that very soon Bengaluru would overtake Mumbai as the second busiest airport in the country after Delhi. Having lost the numero uno position to Delhi in 2009, this slippage in its rank this time to IT capital of the country clearly indicts its past rulers, who did very little to upgrade its infrastructure, including the airport.

All its past rulers, including the party that has ruled the roost in BMC for years together have now come together to form Aghadi and Maharashtra government. And ironically the man who took it as a mission to upgrade the infrastructure of the state, with special focus on Mumbai will be sitting in opposition. Let’s hope the Aghadi government continues the good work by the previous government and do not waste time in settling political scores, which will seriously damage Mumbai’s interests.

First Air India shifted its base to Delhi and almost all the Airline’s direct international routes from Mumbai became indirect via Delhi save a few such as Dubai, Singapore, London and New York. It’s iconic tower at Nariman Point is also up for sale. Secondly, due to shortage of parking slots and heavy overnight hangar charges, Indigo, Spice Jet, Air Asia etc have chosen centres other than Mumbai as their hubs. On top of it, the main runway of Mumbai airport is under repair till April 2020 that will lead to severe disruption leading to cancellation of several flights. Air service scenario looks grim for Mumbai in near future and it may not be surprising if another emerging city such as Chennai or Hyderabad push Mumbai one more notch down!

New Government must expedite ongoing work on Metro network, new airport, expansion of the existing airport by removing encroachment, traffic management, cleanliness , declogging of its roads and pavements and doing something spectacular for long suffering peasantry of Maharashtra. I am not too worried about metaphors such as ” marriage of convenience” or ” diverse ideologies” being used for Aghadi ! If they deliver results, all will be forgiven because there cannot be any ideology more important than development of Mumbai and upliftment of Maharashtra’s farmers!