BandraBuzz creating community connect
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April 2011 | Vol. II Issue 4 | Published Monthly
Bandra On The Blink! Vera Alvares
n keeping with the modern trend, Bandra, that lovely suburb of treelined avenues and tiled cottages in quiet country lanes had to make way for the juggernaut of progressive growth! As Bombay turned into Mumbai it expanded to the North, creeping over all land and water, reaching the Dahisar river bank and further. The present Metropolis may be modern and posh but its underbelly, covered with sores and eruptions needs immediate attention to halt the collapse of this great city. Despite the glamour of night life, for the thousands of its ordinary citizens living here, Bandra is representative of all the ills that plague Mumbai. The present crop of problems has arisen from the fact that various authorities that tend to the needs of the city seem to be functioning independently of each other. This blinkered vision in the name of progress is impacting the life of ordinary citizens. The need for an integrated force that takes all aspects of growth into consideration before a new project is launched is lacking in the minds of the city planners. Roads, Transport, Construction, Power, law-enforcement and the service agencies need to collaborate not only with each other but also with MCGM to formulate a sleek and feasible plan conducive to easy living. A token of an agreement between various authorities may exist on paper but is it being treated comprehensively? It is sad to think that the transformation of Bandra into a commercial & entertainment hub has itself sounded its death-knell! The night clubs, pubs, lounge-bars, restaurants & gymnasia that seem to have cropped up overnight here are drawing patrons-
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from all over Mumbai and the strain of this extra load on Bandra roads is choking the breath out of its lungs! For anyone commuting from the island city to the Northern suburbs passing through Bandra will pose a major road block of delay, wasted time and fuel that invariably ends in ugly incidents of road rage. Bandra’s arteries are perennially clogged with traffic that clusters around the plush eating joints and spills over to the adjoining roads till the whole area becomes one stagnant pool of vehicles emitting deadly pollution & noise. While analyzing this most critical problem, i.e. traffic snarls on most of Bandra’s arteries at any given time of the day, more questions pop up than answers. Vehicles parked on both sides of the roads that slow down the flow of traffic belong to citizens from outside Bandra, patrons of the increasing number of eating joints and lounge bars. The number of restaurants is still growing steadily that every unused nook and cranny is converted into an
eating place. It seems the lack of parking space and the narrow roads around the new eateries, the proximity to a school or Nursing Home has not been taken into account when the license/permit was granted? What is the alternative offered to the locals in this race for modernization of their suburb? None. Walking or crossing roads is a nightmare for not only for senior citizens, school children and the differently-abled people, but also for the fittest of adults. Bandra’s arteries are perennially clogged with traffic that clusters around the plush eating joints and spills over to the adjoining roads till the whole area becomes one stagnant pool of vehicles emitting deadly pollution and noise. Drivers in a hurry have learnt to take shortcuts and choke the inter-connecting roads between Hill road, Linking road and the S.V. road. Under these circumstances, crossing the roads and walking on the pavements pose a major risk to life and limb.
Indians are notorious for the hurry andbreaking a few laws are taken in their stride! To compound the problem the new sea link spews hundreds of cars going to North Mumbai, on to the Bandra roads. In the game of beating one another in the race home, the drivers cut through the network of narrow lanes and gullies spread between General RVaidya Marg, Hill Road, Linking Road and S.V. Road, clogging all of them. As a result of Vilasrao’s blinkered Shanghai vision, modest buildings that formerly owned a collective 3-5 vehicles have been raised into skyscrapers inhabited by owners of 15-20 cars, some permanently parked on the roads. Also the number of vehicles passing through Bandra is too great for the old narrow roads already filled with parked cars and encroachments to accommodate! Some suffering Shanghai this! Many Bandraites strongly feel that restaurants should be shifted out of residential areas and grouped into Food Courts in buildings on any one assigned road so that patrons have a wide choice. Can this be lead to less congestion on our roads? The ALMs in the area have been making the rounds of the traffic police chowki under the flyover in an effort to sort out the mess on our roads. From the meager presence of the Traffic police on the choked roads one can surmise that even the Traffic police have thrown up their hands in despair,v maybe due to shortage of staff or too many other duties……..! The issues about Bandra go on & on - Blink, Blink Bandra... The SILVER LINING is at hand ! CORRUPTION will soon be CONTAINED & CONQUERED
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