Every year, Mumbai performs the same monsoon ritual. Roads are repaired, drains are cleaned, nullahs are desilted, and review meetings assure citizens that the city is ready for the rains. Yet, when the first heavy downpour arrives, those assurances are often washed away, exposing the gap between preparation on paper and performance on the ground.

The Maharashtra government’s Rs 13,000-crore flood mitigation package is the latest attempt to break this cycle. The investment is necessary. Mumbai has outgrown its ageing drainage network, while climate change has made rainfall more intense and unpredictable. Building a more resilient city will require significant public spending. The real question is not whether to spend more, but whether the money will finally translate into infrastructure that works when the rains arrive.