Residents oppose cut down of trees in Aarey for Metro 3

Overview

P-South ward comprises of Goregaon East and West, Oshiwara and parts of Malad. It includes areas like Pandurang Wadi, Dindoshi, Motilal Nagar, Jawahar Nagar, Sundar Nagar, Bangur Nagar, Jayprakash Nagar, Unnat Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Siddhart Nagar, and Patkar college.

One of Mumbai’s green lungs, Aarey Colony falls in the ward, although only a part of the area falls under the jurisdiction of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The carshed and depot for the Metro 3 project, proposed to be set up in Aarey Colony, has run into trouble with environmental activists.

Residents of P-South ward have hit out against the state government’s decision to cut down over 250 trees and transplant over 2,000. “We do not believe in the authorities to transplant as many trees. We do not want to lose the green patch of the city and want to continue breathing healthy air,” a resident said.

There has been major commercial development in P-South ward with a number of malls and shopping complexes, but this has not been matched by adequate growth in civic amenities.

POLITICAL SCENARIO

Shiv Sena has been dominant in P-South ward,with six out of eight corporators in the ward belonging to the party. The other two corporators are from Congress. The only two corporators from the BJP in the ward were both defeated in the 2012 civic elections.

At present, Member of Parliament for P-south ward is Gajanan Kirtikar from Shiv Sena. There are three MLAs from the ward, namely Vidya Thakur from BJP, Ravindra Waikar from Shiv Sena, and Sunil Prabhu from Shiv Sena, who represents a smaller portion of this ward.

For the upcoming civic elections, Shiv Sena will attempt to maintain its sway over the ward with six sitting corporators, two MLAs and a MP from the party. While BJP will try to make another inroad into the ward, Congress will strive to have a larger impact than in the previous civic polls.

Following delimitation, the number of electoral wards in P-South have increased from eight to nine.

issues

The residents complain that the hawkers outside station have not reduced even after HC directives. In fact, they have encroached the footpaths, while the shopkeepers there throw the leftovers on the roads.

Although the civic body fills the potholes, they reoccur every monsoon showcasing shoddy work by the contractors.

In Jawahar Nagar area, there are two unauthorised dairies named Sushil and Maansa and more than 50 cows from the dairies are left outside since early morning which creates nuisance, dirt, traffic and also caused accidents, residents complain.

The residents nearby Aarey colony have been opposing cutting of trees in Aarey fearing rise in respiratory issues, pollution. They complain that the civic body and state government are not taking seriously the preservation of such a big green patch in the city.   

Residents speak

The civic body here does very sub-standard work in case of road repairs. If you ask, they will temporarily say there are no potholes in the ward, but the real situation is that they refill the potholes with tar and stones which gets removed the next day.  Potholes issue is corruption to highest degree of BMC. They appoint contractors who do sub-standard job. The potholes have life of two to three days. The officers are not vigilant. In many areas, paver blocks are unevenly fixed. The senior citizens have fallen because of this uneven blocks.
—Anthony Dias, member of Maanavta Citizens Forum, Goregaon
 

The common problem in this ward is illegal hawking majorly outside Goregaon station, Jawahar Nagar, and MG road. The footpaths are encroached, making it difficult for pedestrians. Even after High Courts’ order that there shouldn’t be hawkers in areas 100 meters outside railway stations, but the menace still continues. At many places, people don’t use garbage bins. Although people come to collect garbage, no serious actions are taken.
—Vivek Yadnik, ALM of Goregaon

The official word

Assistant Commissioner of P-South ward Santosh Dhonde said, “We are working on 13 new roads in the ward. The potholes have been filled properly for which people and ward committee have also appreciated our work.

There are no potholes now. We also repair the footpaths regularly and wherever citizens complain about poor condition, we immediately look after that. Regarding the hawking outside station, the team is working strictly against them. Number of hawkers have reduced in the last few years. Regarding the Aarey colony, only some part of the colony comes under Municipal Corporation. If any trees are to be cut there, the permission has to be taken from us. But the area where Metro carshed is planned, comes under MMRDA.”