Great suburban Exodus

Smita Deshmukh/Surendra Gangan

Increasing traffic, mushrooming high-rises, narrower roads and piles of
garbage are making residents of F-North Ward - Dadar, Matunga, Sion and
Wadala - see red. Added to this plague of civic problems is the exodus of
original settlers such as Parsis, South Indians and Marathis, who are moving
to the distant suburbs.

Parsi Colony of Matunga, one of the best-planned neighbourhoods of Mumbai
that houses the Five Gardens, is today reeling under the pressure of
residential towers along its periphery. Besides high-rises, residents are
also concerned about BMC's plan to modify the gardens with skywalks and food
courts.

"Mosquito menace, debris dumping and waterlogging during the Monsoons are
the other problems facing the colony," says Feroze Vania, a resident.
Similarly, the South Indian community residing at King Circle and Matunga
(Bhandarkar, Telang and LN roads) is also moving out. Many joint families
have sold off their flats and moved to the Central suburbs of Ghatkopar,
Chembur.

Marathis living at Hindu Colony too are under attack from builders. The
intellectual and professional, upper-middle Marathis have moved out only to
be replaced by politicians.

In contrast, the slums of Pratiksha Nagar, Wadala and Antop Hill face
regular portable water shortages, weak drains and filthy surroundings. Even
residents living in new high-rises at Wadala east - the centre of much of
the construction activity in the Central suburbs - are facing transport
problems.

"The only bridge, which connects us to the main roads to the west, has been
fully encroached by slums, leading to waterlogging during the rains, and
forcing us to travel to Sion and then the Western suburbs," says Kamini Rao,
a resident of Dosti Acres. "The BMC is taking its own time repairing this
bridge, and there is no sign that the slums will be removed."

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