On anvil, another ward in Jogeshwari, 25th in Mumbai ….STUTI SHUKLA
IF the demands of Shiv Sena MLA Ravindra Waikar are met, Mumbai will soon get a 25th civic administrative ward in Jogeshwari -the Jogeshwari east ward. Waikar, who got elected from the Jogeshwari east constituency as an MLA in the last assembly elections after defeating Congress candidate Bhai Jagtap, had already got an amount of Rs 1 crore sanctioned in the 2010-11 budget to construct the ward office.
Arguing that the jurisdiction of the K east ward is biggest in terms of the area, beacuse of which the residents have to travel long distances to reach the ward office, Waikar said he pushed for the construction of a separate ward office building on Ajgaonkar plot in Jogesh wari east.
“Rs 1 crore has been sanctioned for the construction of the ward office.
However, the work has not yet started. I have met senior civic officials and told them to expedite the work on the building so that residents of Jogeshwari will not have to travel all the way to Gundavli in Andheri east to K east ward office. They spent almost an hour during traffic hours to reach the ward office,” said Waikar.
Assistant municipal commissioner of K east Vishwas Shankarwar said that since K east is the biggest ward areawise, the ward staff is over burdened and not all parts of the ward are looked into equally. The ward, spread over 20 square kilometres is the biggest ward followed by P north ward and K west ward. K east ward consists of Vile Parle east, Andheri east and Jogeshwari east.
“The same problem persists in many wards such as K west, P north and R north as well. The larger need is to redraw ward boundaries as certain wards are bigger than the others. Some kind of parity is needed. The amount sanctioned this year is only for the construction of the ward office building. Hiring staff and paying for the establishment costs will require more money,” said Shankarwar.
The Jogeshwari east constituency is proposed to have seven corporator wards under it, spread over an area of 5 square kilometres and having a population of nearly 5 lakh people. When asked about the increase in the establishment cost, Waikar said that the service provided to the citizens in return is worth the money spent.