There followed more shoot-outs but these were reported by the police as ``encounters'' with armed members of the city's mafiosi. In between were heard the gunshots of gangland murders. Now civic quarrels are leading to violence. A civic corporator, Meena More, was doused with kerosene and set alight and a former mayor, Milind Vaidya, was shot and injured in the jaw.

To someone from out of town, this list of murder and mayhem would sound like Bollywood running riot. It is as if Mumbai is trying one script after another and always the climax is violence, often in broad daylight in a busy street ending in death.

The question Mumbai's leaders should be asking themselves is why people involved in civic disputes try to settle them through violentaction. In theory the system provides remedies for those who want a public water tap in this or that location and for those whose properties are being demolished. Municipalities, the courts, social workers, welfare departments, local representatives, chawl committees are all supposed to find solutions.

In practice, corruption and the worst kind of political mischief make it virtually impossible for ordinary people to obtain any remedies. Problems fester on for months and years. As a consequence people have had to turn to those who can find short-cuts by bribery or violence.

It has been fertile ground for the mafia to do its "social work." This is also where the nexus between politics and crime emerges. Those in authority turn a blind eye. The pattern of "development" in many parts of suburban Mumbai and especially in unregulated slum settlements is decided by those who can muster the larger number of goondas.

The shocking More incident ought to make politicians think seriously about what can bedone to reduce lawlessness and violence in the city. The alternative is to take violence as an occupational hazard and surround themselves with private and government-paid security guards.