MUMBAI: The former Supreme Court judge, Justice P.B. Sawant, will head a Concerned Citizens' Commission that will begin a series of public hearings on Saturday to determine the causes and factors that led to the massive flooding of Mumbai. The commission plans to submit a comprehensive report and recommendation to the Maharashtra Government within three months.

Announcing this, Cyrus Gazdar, managing director of Airfreight Limited and a member of the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG), one of 35 groups supporting the commission, said the first task would be to understand what happened on July 26 and the days after that. Although a natural disaster, it was "compounded by a whole set of human actions and inactions." The first of the seven terms of reference for the commission states: "To develop a reliable picture of the floods in Greater Mumbai and document what actually took place, the extent of damage to lives and dignity of persons, along with a detailed examination of property loss and damage, linked critically to the issue of relief and compensation."

Besides Mr. Justice Sawant, the other members of the commission represent a range of interest groups. They include Nasser Munjee, chairman of the Development Credit Bank and former managing director of the Infrastructure Development Finance Company, Sharad Kale, former Municipal Commissioner, Chandrashekar Prabhu, architect and former president of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development AuthorityTeesta Setalvad, activist and founder of Citizens for Justice and Peace, Shyam Chainani, founder of BEAG, Prof. Pushpa Bhave, social activist and academic, Datta Ishwalkar, president of the Girni Kamgar Sangarsh Samiti, Suresh Bhosale, Dalit activist and Darryl D'Monte, chair of the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India.

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