Mumbai: Garbage-chuckers to vagrants, everybody adds to congestion in G North

One of the most congested wards in the city, G North has earned the reputation of being one of the busiest owing to its well connected network of local trains on the Central and Western lines. Chunks of the ward, such as Dadar and Mahim, serve as a spot for many prominent businesses as well. A majority of the area receives regular water supply.

Yet, the ward is dogged by many problems. Potholes, garbage dumped on the roads and rash bikers make a big chunk of the ward's woes. Tilak Bridge in Dadar - a focal connecting point in G North - is overrun with homeless families who eat, live and cook on footpaths, leaving pedestrians and commuters minimal space to walk. Roads in some spots remain pothole-ridden, a nuisance that only worsens during the monsoon and causes traffic congestion. Timely garbage collection is done by the BMC, but in some cases, the owners of restaurants and hotels in the area dump garbage right onto the roads.

Tilak Bridge in Dadar doubles up as a home for the homeless, who eat, live and cook on the footpaths. Pics/Bipin Kokate

Traffic troubles: JK Sawant Marg, a road that starts right outside the ward office in Dadar and goes via Star City Theatre to Matunga, is a prominent pothole-ridden road which sees sluggish flow of traffic on a regular basis, especially during the monsoon. Another such road is the one opposite the famous Yashwant Natya Mandir (Dadar-Matunga Cultural Centre). Traffic on some roads, such as Cadell Road, has been a longstanding issue for commuters and residents, but most of the roads on the inner lanes have free-flowing traffic.

A patchy stretch of JK Sawant Marg in Dadar

Besides, areas such as Prabhadevi and Shivaji Park have a fairly large number of traffic signals on main roads, but few on internal roads and bylanes.

Crowd control: Frequent processions and rallies carried out in and around the historic Shivaji Park have been irking residents of the area owing to the large crowds and high decibel noise from microphones and speakers. Besides, motorists at Sena Bhavan often break signals.

Traffic snarls outside Sena Bhavan, Dadar

Mosquito menace: Owing to the presence of many mills in the neighbourhood, most of which have discarded equipment and furniture on their premises, the mosquito menace in G North has increased manifold over the years, especially during the monsoon.