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Basic amenities still a far cry in this crowded area

M-WEST WARD (Tilak Nagar, ChedDa nagar and parts of chembur) Traffic on the Ghatkopar-Mahul Road hits this area the most; hawkers are a perennial problem

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Bikers riding on the footpath at Ghatkopar during peak traffic hours
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Overview

The M-West ward comprises Chembur West (Tilak Nagar and Chedda Nagar) and parts of Chembur East, including Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF), Mahul, Anik, Ghatla village, Suman Nagar, and Subhash Nagar.

The ward has mainly residential areas with people across diverse income groups living there.

The M-West ward is very uniquely located. It has three MPs (out of a total of six in Mumbai) and two MLAs, along with eight corporators. Despite having such a high number of people’s representatives, the ward has not got what it deserves in terms of infrastructural development.

Chembur connects Mumbai to Navi Mumbai. The first phase of the Monorail project (Chembur – Wadala) falls in this ward as do the ends of two main roads — the Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) and the Eastern Freeway. Around 80 per cent of the approach roads to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) also fall in the M-West ward.

Although the Monorail passes smoothly, the Ghatkopar-Mahul road, which also falls in this route, has heavy traffic as it is very narrow. This road has vehicles coming from the Sion-Trombay road, adding to the traffic. It also connects Chembur East to West, and to LTT. The road was to be expanded after construction of the Monorail, but that is yet to materialise. Parking of vehicles is another challenge as the developers failed to provide sufficient parking space, directly violating BMC’s rule.

Political scenario

M-West is a politically complex ward. While the major part of M-West ward (Chembur East) is represented by Rahul Shewale from Shiv Sena, the Tilak Nagar-Chedda Nagar (Chembur West) MP is Poonam Mahajan from BJP, since the area comes under Kurla constituency. However, a small portion of Kirit Somaiya’s (BJP) constituency also falls in this ward. Two Sena MLAs, Prakash Phaterphekar from Chembur constituency and Mangesh Kudalkar from Tilak Nagar-Chedda Nagar in Kurla constituency, also represent this ward. 

Congress was the highest gainer in M-West ward in the 2012 elections. For the 2017 civic elections, this ward will see a strong fight between the ruling party and the Opposition since both the current MLAs are from Shiv Sena and the highest number of sitting corporators are from Congress.


Issues

Traffic on the Ghatkopar-Mahul road hits this area the most. The road along with the Monorail was to be widened up to 120 feet. However, BMC has failed to do so and there is slow moving traffic throughout the day and heavy traffic in peak hours.

The pavements on both sides of the Chembur railway station road are occupied by hawkers throughout the day giving motorists and pedestrians a difficult time. In the evening, more hawkers add to the chaos and the existing inconvenience.

Many drains are not covered properly and thus the sewage stinks. At many spots like the slums in Siddhart Colony and Ghatla village, sewage seeps into cracked water pipelines exposing residents to diseases. 

The municipal markets which were demolished more than five years ago have not yet been reconstructed causing financial losses to many.

Residents speak

T he infrastructure is very poor. There is leakage from the drainage lines, putting health at stake. The overloaded sewage lines burst at times causing overflow of waste material. The roads have not been re-done but new buildings are coming up every year. The corporator does not reply to our complaints. We have met BMC officers many times, but there has been no development.”
—Advocate Nitin Nikam, Secretary of Residents
Welfare Association of
Chembur West.

Vehicle parking is the biggest issue. There are more than 130 buildings in our colony and maximum residents have cars, but there is hardly any parking space. Thus, all the lanes outside are used to park the cars. The municipal corporation should have been strict with the developer regarding creating of parking space in the building premises.”
—Santosh Velapure,
resident of Tilak Nagar

The official word

Assistant Commissioner of M-Ward, Harshad Kale, said: “The hawkers can put their stalls, according to a high court order. So, we cannot take action against them. For widening of the Ghatkopar-Mahul Road, tender work is in process. The Ghatkopar water department is undertaking work of replacing the staggered pipelines in Siddhart Colony, Mahul and Ghatla areas. For the Tilak Nagar municipal market, we recently gave clearance in regard to sewage line in the construction area. As people park their vehicles outside their buildings in Tilak Nagar, the roads there become very narrow for regular traffic. It is a MHADA layout. No parking space was provided.”

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