Water shortage in Eden
With civic elections coming up, TOI takes a ward-wise look at the immediate
problems faced by citizens and the solutions they seek
Shalini Nair I TNN
Mumbai: The Garden of Eden is what Churchgate resident and Citispace
activist Neera Punj says her friends from the suburbs label her part of the
town. The most hardened civic critic would agree with Punj.
Blessed with the best of roads and other civic amenities, this would be
perhaps the only ward in Mumbai where corporators will have to scrounge for
issues to fight the upcoming elections. While rapid development has put
pressure on civic infrastructure in the suburbs, South Mumbai and more so
areas such as Churchgate, Fort, Nariman Point, Cuffe Parade and Colaba have
been sheltered from such problems.
A large part of the credit for that would go to the British who
meticulously charted out wide roads and an underground network of drains and
sewers, which our civic authorities failed to replicate elsewhere. “The
British created the finest concept of town-planning in the city. When the
first water lines were laid to bring tap water into the island city, water
was sourced from beyond Virar – a good 50 kms away – as they anticipated
further development towards the north. Most importantly, even in the midst
of a business district like Fort, they left enough open spaces,” says
heritage enthusiast Ragavendra Kannan.
Vast open stretches such as the Wankhede and Brabourne stadiums,
Cooperage grounds, Azad Maidan, Cross maidan and Oval maidan are the
trophies this ward can flaunt.
With no land for any new development, the only construction activity
here is the redevelopment of old cessed buildings; the ward has over 1,000
such structures, whose maintenance cost is shared by the government and the
tenants.
The only sore points are the emerging water problem, haphazard hawking
and the neglect of the slum areas. “Recently there has been an acute water
problem in areas of Fort and Colaba. Then, there are the sporadic complaints
about hawkers on DN road, Churchgate and Cross maidan. Other than these,
there are very few issues as far as the voters are concerned. Anyway, this
ward has one of the lowest voter turnout,” said a civic official.
As demographics go, Churchgate and Cuffe Parade are predominantly elite
areas, while Colaba is a mixture of the upper and middle class and also the
only area in the ward to have a slum population. While Nariman Point and
Ballard Pier are purely commercial areas, Fort has a mixture of old time
residents and commercial complexes. In fact, the floating population of 40
lakhs, mainly comprising officegoers, is 20 times the size of the entire
ward’s population.
“Millions of people come from CST and Churchgate station every day.
While the residents’ needs are taken care of, there are no basic facilities
like good toilets for the floating population. Also the traffic management
needs to be spruced up; double parking and jay walking are very common as of
now,” said Punj.
CONSTITUENCY WATCH
History
Nariman Point: Nariman Point came into being in the sixties after the whole
idea of creating a new city in Navi Mumbai was given a quiet burial. In
order to cater to the builder lobby it was decided to cash in on the growing
attraction of the city area itself. Four sq km of land was reclaimed from
the sea and Mumbai’s second commercial business area after Fort was created.
Today, Nariman point has several towering commercial buildings and one
residential building.
Colaba: Originally comprising of two islands-Colaba and Old Women’s
Island-Colaba had a large number of European settlements, many of whom had
shifted there after their initial settlements at Byculla made way for mills.
The Colaba causeway later joined these two islands. From a cantonment for
troops, to a fishermen’s colony and a cotton trading centre, Colaba is today
is a middle class settlement.
Fort and Churchgate: The Fort area was developed into a business district
with buildings of uniform height built in gothic and classical style post
1860s. Churchgate on the other hand is part of the land that was reclaimed
in the 1940s as part of the Backbay Reclamation scheme.
Sitting councillors: Congress corporators Vinod Shekhar, Geeta Khanojia
and Vijaya Kanti Dulla and independent corporator Puran Doshi.
Electoral wards after the delimitation exercise Ward 224: Crawford
Market-Churchgate-Museum (reserved for women) Ward 225: Barbourne
stadium-Colaba Market-Gateway of India-Nariman Point (open ward) Ward 226:
Sasoon Docks, World Trade Centre- Geeta Nagar-Cuffe Parade: reserved for
Backward Castes Ward 227: RC Church-Colaba Dandi-Navy Nagar (reserved for
women)