TOI: P D'Mello demolitions to help improve traffic flow: May 16, 2008 | Mumbai Projects by Government

Mumbai: The BMC’s biggest demolition drive in the recent past—on the seven-kilometre long P D’Mello Road—will have far-reaching effects on the law and order as well as traffic situation of the surrounding areas of the eastern suburbs and the city.

BMC and police officials told TOI that the demolition of about 2,700 unauthorised structures in the past two months—including 1,350 razed on Wednesday—would not only improve the traffic flow between the eastern suburbs and the city, but also curb rising crime in the area.

The Mumbai police had warned the civic body about the deteriorating crime situation in these slums as it was extremely difficulty to catch the perpetrators, who would go into hiding after committing a crime, said BMC officials.

“With these structures gone, we expect the crime figures to come down drastically in the area. A large number of theft, rape and murder cases have been reported here recently,’’ said police officials.

P D’Mello Road has also been given ‘priority’ status under the World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP) and clearing the
road of structures would speed up MUIP work, said officials.

The structures were demolished because they were built after the state’s 1995 cutoff deadline, and only 1,667 of them were eligible for alternative housing provided by the MMRDA at Mankhurd. On Wednesday, an angry mob had set the waste to fire, protesting against the civic action. The elaborate demolition caused a traffic jam for hours on the road and police officials even had to resort to a minor lathi-charge to keep the situation under control.

At the spot on Thursday, hundreds of scrap dealers from across the city fought to grab a piece of about 400-500 tonne of rubble—possibly the city’s biggest pile of wooden furniture at the moment. They came from as far as Kurla and Ghatkopar. “This morning alone, I sold about 10 tonne of wooden furniture—some to people who want to use it for constructing hutments at other places,’’ said Mohammad Shah, whose hutments were demolished in the drive.

However, the civic officials say the clearing of debris would be cumbersome and would involve huge transportation costs as well. “We know these people are selling the rubble to make money. But what can we do? We don’t have dumping grounds in the vicinity where the rubble can be dumped,’’ said officials.

ALL CLEAR: The scene outside the Cotton Green station following the demolitions

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