Road widening irks Bandra residents

December 9, 2013

Linah Baliga, TNN

MUMBAI: The compound walls of eleven private plots on St Martin’s Road in Bandra (W) will be demolished and utilized as setback land for road widening. Residents are upset with the demolition notice recently issued by the BMC road department. On Saturday, the BMC arrived with a team to make markings inside the compunds of the buildings, which are near Globus mall and the H-West ward office.

A public meeting and two letters from the affected residents bore no results. There is a heritage cottage called the Arc among the 11 structures that will be affected. Eight coconut trees, a jamun tree, a love apple tree, a jackfruit tree, three custard apple trees and a gooseberry tree will be lost to the widening.

”We learnt from the ward office that demolition will be on Monday,” Floyd Almeida, a resident of Fabian building on ST Martin’s Road, said. “Globus has a car park which is being used as a godwon and is locked up. They have a basement parking and a sanction for a theatre. Their visitors park on our road. Patrons of Royal China and Metro Palace restraunts also park in our lane. That’s the reason it makes our roads narrow. We kept telling the BMC to have parking on one side of the road or on alternate days, but to no avail. The road was one way earlier.”

In the past, the BMC handed over the setback land for road widening to hawkers on Hill Road.

Dilshad Patel, another resident, said that they would fight tooth and nail with the BMC to protect their properties and that the BMC offer of additional FSI did not interest them.

Additional municipal commissioner S V R Srinivas said the widening decision was taken on the recommendation of the traffic and coordination department and could not be reversed.

Widening is the only solution. There is no guarantee if the road space will increase, if we allow cars to park on one side and we cannot police that road forever.

No structure will be affected and the trees will be transplanted,” Srinivas said. “The demolition will happen in a few days.”

Source-http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com