On the fast track to growth
Sharad Vyas

Kandivali, is without doubt, one of the fastest growing suburbs of Mumbai.
Past few years have witnessed rapid improvement of the roads in Kandivali.
Some of the best concrete roads include Marve- Charkop Link road, Mathuradas
road, MG road, Akurli road, are all a case in point, developed in the last
couple of years. Several palatial residential complexes have also come-up
both in the east and the west, making it an ideal property market.

The Lokhandwala Township alone has more than 65,000 flats in Kandivali. But
between all the developments, the health sector has been put on the
backburner. With large amount of hospitals and polyclinics in the region
some allege that the township is the centre of medical healthcare in the
region. But there are contradictions to the argument. "The area has lot of
clinics but none equipped to handle specialized treatments.

They all claim to have ICU and ICCU but none is actually capable of carrying
out specialized treatments, "said a famous doctor in Thakur Village,
requesting not to be quoted. The only civic hospital in the area Shatabdi
has been shut for a long time now. Although the work has started for
revamping the hospital, it will take another two years before it is
functional yet again. But there is another problem to address. Slum areas
have a large number of bogus doctors. No matter how much the officials of
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) deny, fly-by-night doctors are
mushrooming in large numbers in areas like Gandhi Nagar, Ganesh Nagar,
Laljipada in the west. In the east, Baldongri, Wadapada, Hanuman Nagar, and
Januapada.

Buildings stand tall amid ruins Every morning, I stand on this mountain waiting for the mist to clear.  Hoping something would change. Hoping they have not come any closer. This is
the Patka Pani village whose serenity, at one point in time, enveloped the
entire Thakur Village.

There was a time, when I could see only the green cover of this forest from
the top. Today, only tall skyscrapers stare at my face in the morning,
threatening whatever to takeover whatever little is left of my village.

Everyday they are inching closer, till they push us to the brink of
extinction. They threw us out of our houses, those money-minded builders.
What could we have done against the might of the money? Their apathy has
forced us work in the mines nearby trying to save whatever is left of our
ethos and traditions. Spare some time for me. I am Krishna, one of the few
remaining Varli Adivasis displaced from their own soil.



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