Big City,Small Issues

The pond,on which silt and debris has been incessantly dumped to reclaim it,has for the past few decades ceased to be a water body. It is instead a 22,000-sqm plot,on which about 250 hutments have come up. Besides,the BMC had also leased a small portion of the land to a local non-government organisation,which the residents allege has encroached upon more space.

The BMC had demolished 195 structures in May. However,residents complain that since then fresh encroachments have come up.

Sitaram Kunte and MP Priya Dutt discussed the issue at a meeting held last week. Congress corporator Brian Miranda said he had taken up the issue with the ward officer. “So far,there has been no progress on the plan for lack of sufficient funds. The ward officer has asked me to wait till the monsoon is over,after which the BMC can give notices to slum structures,review their eligibility for rehabilitation and take action,” Miranda said.

Hawkers mar festivities

Despite Mount Mary’s feast and Ganesh Chaturthi coinciding,residents of Band-stand,Hill Road and Linking Road are barely in the mood to celebrate. In addition to the authorised stalls permitted at the Bandra Fair and Ganesh mandals,residents complain that a number of illegal hawkers have also put up their stalls in the area,causing chaos. “This week is a nightmare for residents. When we try to report about the illegal hawkers to the police and the BMC,they threaten us. They have already attacked a few of our senior citizen residents who tried to uproot their stalls,” said Hill Road resident Lizanne Alves

Congress corporator Asif Zakaria said,”On Tuesday,we held a massive anti-hawker drive. Evicting hawkers is a task,as the BMC and Mumbai police face limitations in terms of manpower and vans.”

6 months on,ROB plan fails to take off

Six months after a joint committee of municipal and railway officials was set up to widen the road-over-bridge (ROB) passing railway tracks at Nahur,there has still been no movement on the project. The existing ROB,which is 40-ft wide,witnesses traffic jams daily. The bridge is a part of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road,which connects the Eastern Express Highway and Navi Mumbai to Mulund. The roads on either side of the bridge are 120-ft wide,but the 200-m ROB created a bottleneck,leading to traffic problems,which intensify in monsoon due to potholes. “The joint committee was set up after railway minister Pawan Bansal issued instructions to take the matter on a priority basis. Now,it has been six months since the committee was set up and there has been no progress in the matter,” said Member of Legislative Council Charansingh Sapra.

A senior civic official said the BMC was expected to provide the design for the project but after a long session of blame game,it was decided at a meeting held last month that the railways would undertake the project. Divisional Railway Manager (Central Railway) Mukesh Nigam said he was not aware of the issue.

Eviction drives an eyewash

Even as the BMC initiated an aggressive campaign this year to evacuate hawkers with the help of the police,illegal vendors and hawkers at Ghatkopar station road have taken to the streets once again.

Residents of the area alleged that these eviction drives were just an eyewash. “As soon as the BMC squads leave,hawkers reclaim their positions on the streets. BMC has to file an FIR against the encroachers. But,they have never lodged our complaints. Hawkers,police and the BMC work hand-in-glove with each other. Hawkers are alerted about BMC drives and hence they escape when the squads come,and as soon as they leave,these miscreants are back,” said a resident,Nivruti Mehta.

Corporator Pratiksha Ghuge said,“Every day,BMC vehicles take rounds of the area and confiscate goods of illegal hawkers. It is not possible to appoint a police officer to keep a check round the clock. However,BMC vehicles are parked at several spots till 6 pm. But,there seems to be no permanent solution,as they return.”

Ghuge added,“Residents have approached us with their complaints and we had forwarded the same to the BMC commissioner. Around 40 per cent of the problem has been resolved.”

Mehta said,“These hawkers have even threatened to harm us we if complaint against them. The road has become a bottleneck due to the ongoing construction of the Metro station. Hawkers have encroached upon the entire stretch under the bridge. Some of them also occupy the skywalk.”

Residents devise way to clear garbage

Irked by the increasing problem of garbage disposal and lack of action by the municipal ward office,Bandra residents have taken up the issue themselves through their Garbage-Free Weekend drive. Members of Khar Resident Association (KRA),H West ward (Bandra West,Khar West) and WakeUp Bandra Foundation collaborated with the BMC to organise a clean-up drive. “The two dumps in the area,one on the 15th Road and the other at the Reclamation Ground are overflowing with garbage. Areas like the 13th and 17th roads,Khar telephone exchange area and SV Road stink of wet waste,” said a local resident,Samarpan Bhowmik.

“We asked locals to inform us if they spot garbage strewn anywhere around them. Clean up marshals responded to every call,” said Anandini Thakoor,KRA trustee. As part of the campaign,2,00,000 handbills were distributed in the surrounding areas.

Organisers approached Mohan Adtani,Additional Municipal Commissioner,who gave them the go ahead for the drive and also appointed clean-up wardens for the initiative.

(Contributed by Alison Saldanha,Manasi Phadke,Gautam S Mengle,Dipti Sonawala,Abdullah

Nurullah)