‘Need affordable, eco-friendly mass transport in post-pandemic world’

MUMBAI: Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has called for affordable and eco-friendly mass transport system in Mumbai to tackle the challenges of climate change and global warming. He was speaking at the inaugural session of Colaba Conversation, a conference organised by the Observer Research Foundation to discuss policy issues affecting the city, the country and world.

The two-day conference held via video-conferencing had 70 speakers from 20 countries to discuss policy and planning in life after pandemic in global cities. Speaking at the inauguration of the conference, Thackeray said that development activities must be undertaken bearing in mind their impact on nature and environment. He said that even as there is no medicine to treat Covid-19, oxygen has saved lives of several people.

The CM added that Mumbai is

perhaps the only city which has a jungle within its limits. “It’s not a concrete jungle, but one that is rich with biodiversity,” he said, adding that Mumbai ranks among the top cities in the world where migration from rural to urban areas is high. “Global warming does not happen in jungles, and it hardly happens in the villages. Cities contribute hugely to climate change. We

must gauge the need of the hour and rise to the occasion,” he said in his speech on Tuesday, adding that the transport arm of the Mumbai civic body, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking, has introduced e-buses, and the government is also augmenting the Metro rail network.

Thackeray added that the Covid-19-pandemic brought the world to a pause and the reset button needs should be thinking and changing the manner in which things are done in the future. “The pause brought because of the pandemic has made us identify where and how the next challenge is going to arise. Corona has opened our eyes to environment. The question is whether we have learnt the lessons,” he said.

Additional civic commissioner Ashwini Bhide, who was also speaking at the conference, said as trains are not running in full capacity, there is further strain on road transport. “There are inherent limitations as Mumbai is a linear city with a high population density. It’s poised to expand its public transport network but in the meantime, we still need to face challenges: be it pandemic or floods. We need efficient protocol to ensure these facilities work smoothly during a crisis,” Bhide said in a panel discussion on ‘Lessons from the pandemic’.