Repairs, Not The BEST, Persist Over A Month
By Manu Shrivastava
As ego battles between political parties, allegations of needless repairs and blame games continue even amidst a lockdown, Colaba’s BEST footpath at Electric House looks like a war zone posing a risk to life and limb of residents. For residents, if there’s anything else that’s keeping them on tenterhooks other than the COVID-19 scare, it’s the dangerous footpath that lies at junction of BEST Marg and SBS Road in Colaba.
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| STOP WORK: The Electric House footpath is in a mess risking pedestrian lives |
While pavements are meant for pedestrian movement, for reasons best known to the authorities, this one in particular “in perfect order till dug up following ‘complaints’” has been left unattended for a month leaving pedestrians – mostly senior citizens of Colaba – with no choice but to risk their lives by walking in the middle of the road, dodging oncoming traffic.
At the Electric House signal, the footpath adjoining the Bank of India branch was dug up following ‘complaints of shoddy jobs,’ according to a few sources even as others felt that “there was no need to dig up a perfect pavement.” While the job was initiated with aplomb a month ago, the work was left unattended within just a week of starting and remains so, till date.
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| CROSS AND CRASH: Pedestrians walking on the zebra crossing at the junction remain unsafe |
Stones lie scattered along the footpath rendering walking impossible. “Even after days of digging up this footpath, the work has not finished yet. How much time does it take to redo such a small patch of pavement?” says an infuriated 58-year-old Colaba resident Lajwanti Mehta who has to cross the zone on her daily walks to keep her diabetes under control. “Now, I am scared to step out as I simply cannot avoid this particular bend which constantly remains under repairs,” she says.
“I have to visit the Electric House regularly to physically pay the bills of my home and shop. A fortnight back, I tripped and fell over a stone that was lying in the middle of the footpath at BEST and hurt my knee rather badly. Thankfully, I managed to get up and move owing to the presence of a few passers-by who helped me then. I didn’t get hurt but could well have hit my head on a rock,” relates a Second Pasta Lane-resident and second-generation Colaba resident.
So now, she is left with little option but to risk her life by walking on the road with her bagful of clothes dodging speeding vehicles and motorists. “I make it a point to cross on the zebra crossing from the Colaba Police Station side to get over to the BEST Marg footpath adjoining Electric House but there’s no way I can walk safely on this dug footpath without risking injury.”
Like her, people walking from the Colaba Police Station end on SBS Road towards Electric House, even after availing the zebra crossing, just cannot move onto the footpath after crossing the road. They are forced to step out on the road and risk being hit by moving vehicles taking a turn. |
| FURIOUS: Harak Bisht |
About time, local elected representatives, other political leaders and 'their representatives' take the initiative to walk the talk and, instead of making tall claims and counterclaims, actually pull up the BMC contractor in question and ensure that the work embarked upon here, is completed to the satisfaction of the public...and soon. If this is the case with a pavement adjoining the headquarters of an essential service like BEST in India's financial capital Mumbai, you can imagine the state of affairs in the rest of the city.
(Note: Some subjects may have removed their masks only to be identified in photographs to be used with this news report. COVID-19 appropriate behaviour has been maintained at all times)
