BMC is breaking things that aren’t broken and making life difficult for walkers

The BMC has come under fire for encumbering pedestrians by replacing flat road dividers with raised barricades across the city The civic body has undertaken beautification projects worth Rs 1700 crore and replacing dividers is part of this endeavour However even dividers that are in a good shape are being demolished On Bandra Westrsquos KC Marg the BMC has almost demolished a central divider that was repaired as recently as 2021 and will install its replacementMumtaz Rahebar Khan a former Bandra West corporator said after following up with the civic body the BMC repaired the divider ldquoNow the authorities are removing it Officials claim they are doing this under a beautification programme But the old divider was in a good condition Why are they wasting taxpayersrsquo money The old divider was made of bricks It was strongrdquo Khan saidAlso Read Mumbai Residents rally to save trees in Kingrsquos CircleRepairing of road proposedThe BMC also plans to carry out repairs on this road ldquoThe repair work will start soon While this goes on the new divider will be damaged wasting taxpayers money again When I asked the BMC roads department they said this 1510metrelong asphalt road would be converted into a cement concrete onerdquo said Khan The work is being undertaken by H West ward officials ldquoThey didnt take any suggestion from the roads department which is neededrdquo she allegedPedestrians climb over a divider outside Churchgate station PicPradeep DhivarRecently Khan tweeted about the issue with a video which was retweeted by former minister and Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray ldquoThe BMC must explain this This is procontractor work which the new opaque administration defines as a beautification order by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at Rs 1700 crore of Mumbaikarsrdquo his tweet read28 trees to be transplantedThe BMC has decided to transplant 28 trees most of them fullgrown palm trees in the KC Marg divider The civic body has already removed two dead treesldquoThere is nothing wrong with planting trees in the divider But they should be planted properly so their roots enter the ground I had already filed an objection in this regardrdquo said Zoru Bhathena an environmental activistA roughlyfourfeethigh divider on Linking Road Pic Ashish RajeldquoThe existing central dividers are in a good condition and dont need replacement Any proposal to remove trees to beautify a central divider is absurd The Tree Authority should ensure that sufficient open space and soil is left available all around these treesrdquo his objection letter readSimilar situation in BandraEven on a small internal road in Bandra East Jagat Vidya Marg near the collectorsrsquo office the dismantling of barricades is going on ldquoIt is totally wrong It is understandable if the BMC replaces old damaged structures with new colourful ones The BMC has been wasting money on nonrequired workrdquo said Anil Trimbankar a former corporatorHe added that cars were being parked on both sides of the road while footpaths had been encroached by hawkers a tea stall and a garage ldquoIf the civic body really wants to help commuters it should focus on clearing the road and not on false beautificationrdquo he saidPedestrian inconvenienceApart from allegations of wasting money the beautification project is being blamed for obstructing commuters as twotothreefeethigh are taking the place of flat dividers Pedestrians must now walk up to junctions to cross the road which is inconvenient for manyBMC workers demolish a perfectly intact divider on Jagat Vidya Marg in Bandra East PicAshish RajeRishi Aggarwal a citybased activist tweeted ldquoFlat dividers are being obliterated in Mumbai under the new onslaught of the R1700 crore Mumbai beautification programme A dense city like Mumbai needs frequent crossing of pedestrians These are city roads not highwaysrdquoHe added that there were flat dividers from Lokhandwala Circle Road to Four Bungalows till 2018 and people could cross the road with ease ldquoBut they were replaced three to four years ago Anyone passing now will think the raised dividers were always there Access to pedestrians is being severed at every other road in the cityrdquo he statedNear ChurchgateThough there have been raised dividers on only a few major roads in the city they now are being built on small roads In January the BMC replaced the dividers on Maharshi Karve Road in front of Churchgate station citing the prevention of accidents as people would cross the heavytraffic road However after this many young commuters have started climbing over the new barricadesEven the flat cementbrick divider on the road to parallel to Oval Maidan has now been replaced with elevated barriers ldquoThe road is congested during office hours But otherwise traffic is sparse and pedestrians can cross with ease But now there are only a few points where people can cross itrdquo said Smriti Kulkarni a regular commuterKhar Danda RoadThe work of replacing flat dividers is also going on at Khar Danda Road in Khar West There are many small gullies such as 14th Road 15th Road and 16th Road that are connected to the road and there are many small junctions Andrew Simoes tweeted ldquoI was shocked to see the huge raised divider appearing on the main Khar Road Chitrakhar Durandhar Marg There was no divider there before Its not practical at allrdquoldquoThe raised barriers are for the safety of pedestrians It will prevent midroad crossings which results in accidentsrdquo said a BMC official Activist Rishi Aggarwal added ldquoThe BMC is using the excuse of pedestrian safety to make the movement of cars easier There is no data supporting the argument Raised dividers in fact cause many youths to dangerously climb over them If the corporation is serious about pedestrian safety let it make those junctions saferdquoIqbal Singh Chahal municipal commissioner said the roads department head would be able to explain the matter Ulhas Mahale deputy municipal commissioner of infrastructure did not respond to middays queries at the time of going to printNo jaywalking rule existsAsked whether pedestrians are allowed to cross flat dividers a transport expert said that though the concept of jaywalking exists in the US it isnrsquot mentioned in the Indian Penal Code ldquoBut pedestrians can be booked for obstructing traffic under the Bombay Police Act A few years ago there was a drive to fine commuters for crossing the median near Churchgate stationrdquo he added2021The year KC Marg divider was repaired