Residents march to ward offices over various issues
Hundreds of protestors in Mumbai took to the streets to protest against issues such as bad roads, potholes, waterlogging, and polluted drains. The protests were organized by the city unit of Congress at all 24 ward offices in the city. The primary issue highlighted was the lack of water supply and poor quality of water in certain areas. The protestors met with ward officers to submit their complaints.
Mumbai: Hundreds of protestors took to the streets in several parts of the city and marched to their respective ward offices in protest against various issues, including bad roads, potholes, waterlogging during the monsoon, polluted drains and dirty water.
The marches were organised by the city unit of Congress at all 24 ward offices of the city. “The aim of the protests was to highlight the people’s problems to the administration as there are no corporators in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) currently. It is being run by the administration and the state government, who are not running it properly,” Ravi Raja, former corporator and leader of the opposition in the BMC, said.
At the H East ward office in Santacruz east, residents gathered from Vile Parle east, Kalina, Kherwadi against a plethora of issues: poor garbage collection, improper nullah cleaning, waterlogging, potholes, the lack of corporators and corruption in the BMC. The primary issue was water supply as residents heaped complaints about low-pressure and unclean water.
Mary D’Souza, a resident of a gaothan in Kalina village and Congress taluka president was up in arms about the water supply her area receives. “We have been staying here for long, but the new buildings that have come up are stealing our water by diverting it using submersible pumps. We barely get any water, and when it comes, it lacks pressure. This has been ongoing for three years now and we make rounds of the ward office every month and often they do not even let us in. In response, the BMC officers are asking us to change our water lines,” she said. She also complained that the ward officer was unresponsive to their calls.
Other areas of Golibar, Kherwadi and Behrampada had similar complaints. “The water pressure is so low that it takes us half an hour to an hour to fill our vessels. It also has a smell and it is unfit to drink,” Istekhar Salmani, who lives in the slums of Golibar, said. The residents have no choice but to get bottled water or water from elsewhere to drink.
There are other issues as well, said Milagrin Vaz, the president of the Mahila Congress of Ward 90. Garbage is often not picked up for days. Gutters and drains are not cleaned properly, leading to waterlogging due to little rainfall.
The root of the issue was attributed to the absence of corporators in the BMC by Sanjay Singh, district president (employment cell) in the Congress. “When the corporators were present, at least they would be pressured by the residents and would come up with a fix. But now the administrators are not accountable to anybody,” he said.
The marches ended with the protestors and Congress leaders meeting the ward officer. “Letters have been given to the ward offices highlighting the problems specific to the particular ward,” Raja said.
Zeeshan Siddique, MLA from Bandra east, told protestors that ward-wise meetings will be held with different departments. “We request you to submit your complaints to us as it is your participation that has made the protest successful,” he said.