Politicians8217; MPty promises

Express Newsline visited the constituencies in the city where such projects were sanctioned only to find old reeking holes in place of new toilets, and clogged open nullahs where underground drainage pipes should have been. Roads and passages that were to be built in certain slums were either still pending or had mysteriously come up in some nearby colony. We present the first of the two-part series.

To beginwith, in the Sena leader Madhukar Sarpotdar8217;s North-West constituency, out of the 32 works sanctioned for the year 1996-97, 27 are incomplete some yet to start. For 1997-98, 27 small public projects were sanctioned, of which 25 are incomplete.

Here are a few examples. At the reported cost of Rs 24.77 lakh, toilets, community centres and a study room were sanctioned for construction at Kunchi Kurve Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Makadwala Compound and Asha Nagar in Kalina and MHB Colony in Santacruz. But a different sight greeted us on visiting these slums in Kalina. At Kunchi Kurve Nagar and Makadwala Compound, the 5,000 hutment dwellers were still using three old, dilapidated toilets 8212; one of these does not have doors to cover the individual blocks and is so filthy that the locals have nicknamed it ghai mein sandaas8217;, which roughly translates as use this toilet only if you are desperate8217;.

8220;There is also no water tank in the toilets and so we have to take our own and wait for our turn to step in. Thecommunity centre which also works as a balwadi has not been built by Sarpotdar, but we collected funds from our own people,8221; said a local social worker Amarjit Manhas. Likewise, there are no newly constructed toilets or community centres at Shastri Nagar and Asha Nagar. 8220;It8217;s all election ka hava8230; the MPs somehow manage to get the required works sanctioned, but that8217;s all8230;nothing happens after that. Only we know what it is like to use toilets without proper lights,8221; said Ashok Hariyan from Asha Nagar.

At Behrampada, which also falls under Sarpotdar8217;s constituency, people have simply given up hope. 8220;No matter who wins the elections, the BMC and the MHADA are not really doing much here. Though four toilets are relatively new and one was recently repaired, there is no cleanliness here and the gutters are perennially clogged,8221; said Sheikh Amir pointing at one of the drains.

In the Mumbai North-Central constituency sitting MP Narayan Athavale has claimed to have initiated many slum developmentprojects. However, while 17 of the sanctioned 29 WCs water closets were completed at different places in 1996-97, none of the 28 toilets sanctioned in 1997-98 have been completed.

But to Athavale8217;s credit, he did manage to lay a Rs 2 lakh-worth water-supply line at Mahatma Gandhi Nagar, Sector 3, last year. Residents of Dharavi slums were also benefited with the construction of toilet blocks in Dharavi-Koliwada in 1996. But then again, a cultural centre Rs 2.11 lakh at the Transit Camp in Wadala which was sanctioned on March 5, 1997, is still only on the paper. The same goes for the Rs 1-lakh water pipeline project at Mir Colony in Mahim, which was sanctioned way back on March 17 last year.

Interestingly, a tar road that was slated to be built at Dinbandhu Nagar in four phases, at a cost of nearly Rs 10 lakh, was constructed last year in the adjoining Sangam Nagar. On paper, the Slum Improvement Board of Mhada was scheduled to build the road from Dinbandhu Nagar to Bharatiya Kamala Nagar, via SangamNagar. Ram Bachan Yadav, a mill worker residing at Bharatiya Kamala Nagar, commented: 8220;What8217;s the use of rebuilding a road at Sangam Nagar, when there are puddles in our area throughout the year. There are no street lights, nor any toilets here. What8217;s the use of this MP fund.8221;

Akbar Ali, a resident of Dinbandhu Nagar which is a predominantly Muslim locality, had a similar tale to tell. 8220;If I start telling you about the problems faced by the 5,000 hutment dwellers in our area, you will run out of space. But our main demand is that we really require a community centre here, will Athavale comply?8221;

Many projects in BJP MP Ram Naik8217;s Mumbai North constituency are also pending. In 1996-97, 34 projects were sanctioned, of which work on 24 is yet to start. Ram Naik had promised to set up libraries, cultural centres, toilets and bus stops in his constituency. Empty words, once again, as we found out.

One good reason offered by the two collectorate offices in the city was that while the MPs8217; projects weresanctioned after a brief study, the NOC no objection certificate were sometimes not given by the BMC and other regulating bodies. 8220;Especially at the time of elections, we cannot allow projects to take off on account of the code of conduct. But once a project is sanctioned, there is usually no problems for it to be completed, even though it may take some time,8221; said an election officer. So, there is more wait yet for people who want clean toilets, pucca roads, clean drinking water, a community centre, a drainage pipe, a.