In the cool environs of the chief minister’s office in Mantralaya, South Mumbai, this connection may escape the worthy gentlemen, but, on the ground, in the heat of the day, it is inescapable. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced on Monday this week that his government was planning to set up a 300-acre innovation city in Navi Mumbai, which would “host everything and anything in terms of technology, innovation and AI… we have earmarked the land.” For good measure, since he was speaking at an event of the tech-software industry, Fadnavis mentioned that N. Chandrasekaran, chairperson of Tata Sons, would draw up the framework for the proposed ‘city.’

That day, the maximum temperature in Rabale, an important industrial-residential node in Navi Mumbai, touched 41 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department’s data. It was also the day that Mumbai sizzled at nearly 38 degrees Celsius. Both the daytime land surface temperatures were record highs for February. Neither the Chief Minister nor anyone else at that event made even the slightest reference to either the unusual heat in February or, importantly, to the Development Plan 2018-38 drawn up for Navi Mumbai.

The plan has been critiqued already for ignoring the stiff challenges that climate change has placed upon the city. That the proposed 300-acre city will add to the load is a fair assumption to make. Where, in which node, is this ‘city’ planned for? How will it impact the ecology around? What will it mean for the social set-up and communities in these areas? These are presumably inconvenient questions and not meant to be asked.........

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