The very mention of Prabhadevi makes one conjure up an image of a posh residential area situated in the heart of the metro with very few problems. The roads are clean and well maintained and there is a clean beach on its western side. But a major factor that works out in Prabhadevi's favour is proximity. Also, the area boasts of relatively unencroached (read hawker-free) footpaths unlike some of the suburbs where pavements have become a facility of the past.With Dadar in the north and Worli in its south, Prabhadevi is a small area with all basic facilities - hospitals, colleges and a good public conveyance system like the rest of the Mumbai. The catering college, SASMIRA college, Rachna Sansad for architecture and Kirti college are some of the colleges here. But the main attraction (and also the landmark) is the Siddhivinayak temple which is thronged by people throughout the day. Devotees from every nook and corner of the city visit the temple for a glimpse of Ganpati. And the crowd is so large thattill four years ago people had to wait for hours to see their deity, especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays. This, in fact, made trustees renovate the temple to accommodate the crowd.But the picture isn't just rosy - the blot on it being a chronic problem that has been plaguing every other part of the city. Well, encroachment hasn't spared Prabhadevi also and with it come the related civic and traffic problems. Huge slums, expanding each day, have virtually taken up every inch of the vacant land leaving the residents fuming and helpless as they are here to stay. As most of the slums in Prabhadevi came up before January 1, 1995, they cannot be demolished till the state government rehabilitates the dwellers elsewhere.However, thanks to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, some of the slum-dwellers have been fortunate. The first building under the SRA was constructed in Prabhadevi, though only a few families could be accommodated. The posh building continues to be surrounded by hutments.The expansion ofthe hutments has started eating into the foot-paths. Residents are now complaining of absence of foot-paths on the main Gokhale Road. If any are present, they are being taken over by the restaurants.``In the absence of pavements, it is becoming difficult by the day to walk along the roads, what with heavy traffic,'' says 55-year-old Sunil Tambe residing behind the passport office.Basically a residential area, Prabhadevi is gradually being taken over for commercial purposes. Even the few chawls here are being replaced by highrises. The chawls opposite City Bakery on Annie Besant Road are a classic example. The residents, one of the earliest settlers of Mumbai, were dead against their chawls being replaced by multistoreyed buildings. Said an 80-year old resident on the condition of anonymity: ``We don't want posh flats where people lock themselves up inside and don't know what's happening next door. We are happy living in our small chawls and want to maintain the chawl culture which teaches us to care forour neighbours.''But not all share her view. What is left of the wooden chawls, prominent only in films, are broken galleries and a creaking staircase. In its place, a highrise has already been completed and half the chawl owners have shifted to their new homes. Till then the slum-dwellings in the area will continue to present a sharp contrast, for there are either posh buildings or slums.Of late, another problem which the residents have been facing is garbage. What troubles the residents more is that their complaints to the Ward Officer are falling on deaf ears. There is a huge bin on the Tata Press Road which is always overflowing with garbage and is rarely attended to by the staff of the conservancy department. A local resident, Gitanjali Balani, rues: ``We have made umpteen number of complaints to the civic authorities but it has been of no use. The residents came together and tried all possible ways to ensure that the road is cleared everyday but it has hardly made any difference.'' A passerby has toalways hold a handkerchief against his nose while walking down the lane.The list of woes doesn't end at this. With the growing population, parking problem cannot be kept at bay. Heavy traffic and the absence of pavements on certain roads have restricted parking areas, so much so that there is not even a single parking zone in Prabhadevi. To make matters worse, most of the roads display `no-parking' boards and people have to park vehicles at their own risk.However, the G-South Ward Officer, A N Khaire, informed that the major problem in the area was related to water supply. ``The water pressure in Prabhadevi is very low for which the BMC has been laying new pipes to sort out the issue,'' he said.
