High pollution makes life hit the lows here

In the survey,the comprehensive environment pollution index (CEPI) was a high of 69.19.

About three decades back,the area was largely industrial and used to be known as the ‘gas chamber’ of Mumbai. Since then,a number of big housing colonies have come up in Chembur. More than 15,000 slum rehabilitation tenements in Mahul village area have added to traffic and pollution and made living in this part of the city an unhealthy proposition.

Over the past few years,construction of mega transport projects such as the Monorail along the Ramkrishna Chemburkar Marg (RC Marg) area,the Eastern Freeway near Panjrapol and the much-delayed Santacruz-Chembur Link Road,have been causing huge traffic jams. Chembur also comes enroute those going to Pune through the Expressway or the highway and those heading for Navi Mumbai. This makes presence of heavy vehicles such as trucks and trailers also high in the area.

Rajkumar Sharma,a resident of Chembur and member of the Almanac Citizens Forum,said construction on the monorail project along RC Marg has left only 30 feet of the 120 feet road usable.

“Vehicles here are stuck in traffic for over 45 minutes. Jams near the Fine Arts Society have become worse than jams at Suman Nagar junction or the Amarmahal Junction that connects the Eastern Expressway to Chembur,” he said.

Mahul,spread over 900 acres,has a fishing village that is slowly dying. The presence of major petrochemical and power firms has brought about a major change in its ecology. Gases such as ammonia and nitrous oxide are released in the early morning hours. Moreover,effluents from oil refineries and fertilizer plants also pollute sea water in Thane Creek and affect marine life.

Ashwini Kumar Mishra,a resident of Chembur,said that even doctors advice people against going for morning walks in the area.

Rajendra Mahulkar,three-time NCP corporator from Mahul,said security is one of the biggest concerns for families in SRA buildings in Mahul close to BPCL’s oil refineries. “Water has also been a problem here. It worsened after the increased load on infrastructure due to SRA projects. There is a problem of connectivity,too,since barely two BEST buses ply here.”

About 4,500 SRA flats for those affected by BMC’s BRIMSTOWAD project hit a hurdle since the buildings overlooked the oil refinery and posed security concerns. The matter even reached the Supreme Court.

Later,it was resolved by giving 1,600 tenements close to the refinery only to families of police personnel.

Chembur is home to a number of slum pockets and big housing colonies as well.

The slum pockets include Vashi-Naka,Ayodhya Nagar,Rahul Nagar,Ghatla Village,Siddharth Colony,Panjrapol,Wadavli,Gawanpada and Lal Dongar. Lal Dongar is landslide-prone in monsoon. The leather industry in Thakkar Bappa slums also contributes to pollution. Instances of lung TB and other respiratory problems are high in the area. Civic records show that 68.4 per cent of the population in M West lives in slums.

The industrial landscape was changed by housing colonies such as Mysore Colony (HPCL quarters),Maitri Park and Union Park in M West. Construction by the Bombay Housing Board in Station Colony (Subash Nagar-a cluster 56 buildings with 1800 families),the BPCL (Sahakar Nagar),and the Township Colony (Tilak Nagar) in 1960s transformed it from an industrial suburbs to a residential one.

Non-slum area Chheda Nagar has been one of the worst affected by smoke from industries and stench from Deonar dumping ground (now partially closed).

Rapid redevelopment of old buildings and subsequent load on drainage systems have increased chronic flooding spots here with Sindhi Colony being one of the worst-hit.

Mishra said Chembur once had several parks and open spaces but the only accessible green lung today is the Diamond Garden. The Golf Club is also a vast green cover but a private club. The BMC swimming pool near Natraj Cinema was closed three years back for renovation and has not been reopened.

The political scenario is this BMC ward tilts towards the Sena with three corporators. There is one corporator from NCP,BJP and Congress each. RPI has two corporators in Dalit-dominated areas of Siddharth Colony and Rahul Nagar.