Residents from the tony Breach Candy neighbourhood gathered on Saturday to voice their concerns about the Coastal Road being built by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The meeting was attended by former MP Milind Deora and BMC officers in charge of the project.
Residents demanded that the BMC share the detailed plans and drawings and the environment impact study with them. “People have been living here for generations and should be taken into confidence before proceeding with the project,” Susieben Shah, general secretary of Malabar Hill Citizens’ Forum, said.
Deputy Municipal Commissioner Rajeev Kukunoor said the Coastal Road will reduce traffic snarls in residential areas in the same way the Eastern Freeway did for central and eastern areas. “People were sceptical about whether the Eastern Freeway would be effective, but it has managed to decongest the eastern side of the Mumbai. The same thing will happen here,” he said.
Mukul Mehra, honorary secretary of Nepean Sea Road Citizens’ Forum, said the noise caused by the reclamation work was too high. “The noise is at 90 decibels at our windows, which are around 150 feet away,” Mr. Mehra said. Residents also raised the issue of trees that will need to be cut at Tata Garden on Bhulabhai Desai Road.
Mr. Kukunoor said the trees will be replanted, however, the residents were not convinced. He also assured the residents that Priyadarshani Park would not be encroached upon and that the BMC would follow the directive of the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change that no building can come up on the open spaces.
Mr. Deora said, “The concerns stem from the fact that unfortunately, the people of Mumbai have little or no faith in the BMC.” He said the civic body’s assurances to preserve open spaces rang hollow with the residents largely due to the BMC’s “shabby record”.
Cyrus Guzder, a resident of Warden Road and an environmentalist, said that while there were questions about whether the city requires such a project when road and rail network were crying out for investment, the current concern was about reclamation, which the BMC claims will be kept green. “No one believes this claim. The public rightly sees it as the first step towards real estate development projects, which will be unleashed to recover the humongous project cost,” he said.
