HT CHAT ROOM – Juhu gets its beach back
Residents’ initiative has transformed the messy waterfront to a clean place to chill out
Encroachment and traffic is a problem. Open spaces have reduced and slums have come up. The administration has failed on most fronts.
Mohsin Haider, Samajwadi Party corporator
Samana Rizvi
Mumbai
2002 : JUHU beach was more known for its filth than the beach itself.
Fast forward to 2007: The same beach is clean with organised food stalls.
A visitor, who would have last visited Juhu beach in 2002, may today find it unrecognisable, courtesy to the handful citizens from K West ward who took the initiative to clean up the beach.The citizens approached the Bombay High Court with their Juhu Beach beautification plan in 2002, which got cleared in September 2006. Though the beautification plan has got delayed due to political tiffs and other reasons, the citizens are hopeful that the plan will soon be realised. And by mid-2007, the city’s well-known beach will have six gardens and aesthetic structures for the food stalls – not as eyesore as they were previously.
Today, Mumbaiites, especially residents of K West ward (which stretches from Milind subway to Santacruz west), have a clean beach for morning jogs and evening walks, with cool sea breeze filling their lungs.According to architect P.K. Das, who drew the beautification plan along with the monitoring committee appointed by K-west ward: “The work should have been ideally over by December, but there were delays due to unavoidable
reasons.” All work is done except the gardens, which are waiting for water supply from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
“Pipelines to the gardens have not yet been laid, which is a necessity for horticulture. The gardens will be simple with flower beds where people can stroll, and children can play,” said Das. According to Das, the residents have not completed certain formalities, due to which the BMC has not supplied water.
“The BMC has not yet started the water supply,” said Arun Deo, corporator of Andheri west and former deputy mayor.The plan also includes providing toilets and drinking water facilities for the visitors. “We have constructed proper food stalls near the Shivaji’s statue. We have also allocated large parking spaces near the central chowpatty and near Tulip hotel, so that people can park their cars without creating traffic jams,” said Das.
The Rs 2-crore beautification plan was ready in 2004, but had been in a limbo for the last two years. First it was a tug of war between BJP Rajya Sabha MP Hema Malini and former Congress MP late Sunil Dutt over who will donate for the plan from their local area development funds, and then it due to hawkers who had moved the court for being allotted less space in the new plan. The difference has been huge, as about three acres of land had been encroached by arbitrary food stalls, hawkers and others.
For residents of Andheri and Vile Parle that forms the K West ward, Juhu beach is the main attraction for jogging, morning and evening walks. The area is where many from the city’s middle class escapes to and is frequented by thousands of visitors on a daily basis. Local residents are very pleased with the new look of the beach. They attribute the revamp to the joint efforts by the BMC and Advanced Locality Management of the area.
“The beach is really clean compared to the past, but we want the committee to set up more benches and dustbins. Also, shacks should be introduced on the beach. We want the Juhu beach to look like Goa’s beaches,” muses Poonam Vora, who resides near the beach.
The court has also, on its part, laid out norms to ensure that the work is completed within the given time and manual. As for festivals, the court has banned construction of pandals, and loudspeakers on the beach. It will be the BMC’s responsibility to maintain the beach. “If the work is not implemented by then, then it will be a contempt of the court,” said Anand
Desai of the Juhu Citizen Welfare Association.
htmetro@hindustantimes.com VERDICT Not so good The main problem of this ward
is traffic and roads. Every monsoon, driving gets difficult because of potholed roads. While there was no water shortage earlier, it has now become a problem.
Also the BMC has failed to control encroachment on footpaths.
ANIRUDH JOSHI (39), businessman and resident of Andheri WARD K/West Vil
Electoral wards: 53,54,55,56,57,58,59, 60,61,62,63,64,65 Areas: Vile Parle (West), Andheri (West) and Jogeshwari (West) Total area: 19.50 sq.km Total population: 6,92,274 Problems: Traffic woes, garbage collection, water shortage and encroachments on footpaths are the main issues in this ward.Ward Profile: While a part of the ward comprises slums, it also has upper class, middle class and the business community residing in the area.
Earlier, this ward had only 8 constituencies. But after delimitation, it has increased to 13. Of these, 6 have been reserved for women for the civic elections. With the ward being a cosmopolitan area, it comprises Maharashtrians, Sindhis, South Indians, Gujaratis and Muslims. All major political parties, including the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist
Congress Party, claim to have a hold in these areas.
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