Mumbai has been in limelight for wrong reasons. First the malaria epidemic and now two large ships colliding and spilling oil and cargo in the seas around us. Apart from pollution, this has exposed a dangerous chink in our armour.
With MSC Chitra listing dangerously, containers could not defy gravity and they clogged a critical waterway for five days. The oil spill damaged beaches till about a 100kms away and destroyed large tracts of mangroves. All marine food will be viewed with suspicion for times to come.
It almost brought Mumbai to its knees. A lot of petroleum products come to Mumbai by the sea-route. Supplies were low and had the water channel remained blocked for a week more, we would have been in deep trouble. Officials deny this but surely we are exposed and vulnerable to devious forces and they now know this gap.
