July 17, 2025: Mumbai’s first monsoon showers of 2025 brought the city to a grinding halt, once again exposing critical gaps in its urban infrastructure. Waterlogged streets, inundated railway lines, and a flooded metro station laid bare the repeated failure of civic bodies to prepare India’s financial capital for the rains, despite annual assurances of improvement.
Among the worst affected was the newly launched Rs 37,000 crore Aqua Line of the Mumbai Metro. The Acharya Atre Chowk station in Worli — a key underground stop in the city’s commercial heart — had to be shut due to flooding. Local trains, the city’s vital transport lifeline, were also cancelled after tracks became submerged, leaving thousands of daily commuters stranded.
In the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), a critical business district, major junctions were damaged, revealing potholes and disintegrating tar. Residents voiced frustration, particularly since many of these roads had only recently undergone re-tarring following prolonged closures and traffic disruptions.
This situation stands in stark contrast to the Mahayuti government’s consistent infrastructure claims. Both Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde have long touted their developmental focus. Shinde had pledged a pothole-free Mumbai within two years — a promise made over three years ago. Just prior to this monsoon, he reiterated the same commitment.
However, in areas such as Santacruz East, crumbling road surfaces and botched repairs remain the norm. Government data shows that Rs 745 crore was spent on roads and bridges in FY24, which dropped to Rs 413 crore in FY25. Of the 324 km of roads the BMC intended to concretise in Phase 1 of its upgrade plan, only 26% had been completed by February 2025.
For Mumbaikars, the monsoon once again means wading through flooded streets, potholes, and broken promises.
Source: CNBC TV 18
