BKC heart,choked arterial roads and growing slums

According to the state government data,there are still 17 slum colonies not connected by sewer lines. These include Golibar,Garibnagar,Naupada,Agripada,Dhobighat,Gavdevi and Nagdevi. The ward also boasts of more than 200 small and big slum pockets.

With the increase in the slum population over the last five years,there have been increasing incidents of water and power thefts,said civic officials. Despite a stringent policy in place,the civic administration has been unable to stop illegal and unauthorised structures from coming up in the area. Slum areas such as Garibnagar have constructed ground plus two illegal structures.

The proposed slum redevelopment at Manipada,Prabhat Colony,Asha Nagar,Seva Nagar,Jaku Club,Saibaba Nagar and Sivaji Nagar is expected to further increase the burden on the existing infrastructure.

Even as the Bandra-Kurla Complex is seeing increasing commercial development,the additional day time floating population of over 1.5 lakh has been finding it difficult to commute owing to high congestion and lack of infrastructure. The Western Express Highway,which passes through the ward,and the neighbouring Mumbai International Airport leads to heavy commuter traffic. “The growth of BKC as a business district has led to huge traffic jams. The slums on the other hand put further pressure on the water supply,sewerage network etc. Encroachment have also led to decrease in open spaces for the residents in this ward. The BMC has also failed to successfully acquire all open reserved grounds under its policy,” said Dharmesh Vyas,Congress corporator in the ward.

The Vakola Junction in Santacruz East and the Hansbhungra Junction on the highway are accident-prone spots,but the authorities have not done much to address the issue.

Not just motorists,but even pedestrians have a hard time in the narrow roads of highly populated areas of Kalina,including Shiv Nagar,Sunder Nagar,Vakola. The reconstruction of the old CST Road,from Kalina junction to Shiv Nagar,and building of storm water drain in parts of Vakola have been long pending.

The low lying areas such as Vakola-Kalina,Hanuman Tekdi,and Kherwadi junction are amongst the topmost flood prone areas. Areas falling near these junctions have become chronic flooding spots with no measure undertaken to provide relief during monsoon.

While the BMC had begun a storm water drain project from Sunder Nagar to Western Express Highway to stop flooding in the nearby areas,it has not been completed. Every monsoon,the residents of Vakola have to face huge problems as there is severe water logging in the area with the water levels rising as high as the first and second floor of buildings.

As the civic administration has not yet been able to finalise the new bottleneck policy,the congested areas between Air India Colony and Military Camp are yet to be decongested. The one-km stretch between these two points takes more than half-an-hour even in non-peak hours.

While the Sena-BJP alliance is strong in some sections of the ward,Congress corporators gain their strength here from slum voters. The election is expected to see a shift in the power politics as seven of the 11 wards have been reserved for women,even as the parties struggle to find women candidates for the reserved seats.