Lok Sabha elections 2024: Franchise wise through charters

Simmering issues came to the fore as lsquoFriends of Malabar Hillrsquo a group of locals carved out of a bigger demographic in the area voiced concerns through their charter of demands or manifesto They have sent this to various local political representativesA lsquoMeet the Candidatesrsquo event had been scheduled for the Kamla Nehru Park Malabar Hill on Sunday May 12 evening where candidates were supposed to meet with citizens and to promote what organizers said was ldquoinformed votingrdquo Then a number of citizenrsquos bodies from Altamount Road Peddar Road Breach Candy and Nepean Sea Road said that the meet was cancelled as ldquoThe police had expressed concerns about the potential for confrontations amongst supporters of opposing candidatesrdquo In a late development though some citizens did meet candidate Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena UBT from Mumbai South constituency who arrived for a lsquowalk the talkrsquo meet with a few locals yesterday Sunday eveningGreen sceneThe group presented their charter to Sawant there Excerpts from the charter of demands cite concerns like ldquoEnvironment and sustainabilityrdquo Within this residents state the importance of ldquoPreserving the Malabar Hill Reservoir Hanging Garden and Shantivan and saving 389 plus treesrdquo These are festering issues from last year where a number of locals have been fighting against a proposal for a new reservoir one that will necessitate removal of 389 trees from the siteThe residents raised a demand for Siri Road protection saying in their charter that ldquonatural green areas of the hillsides of Malabar Hill and Siri Road are being irresponsiblydegraded and there must be regulations and curbs on redevelopment projects and bigticket construction activitiesrdquoThe manifesto even has a line which states that there should be ldquono more wastage of public funds on valueless vanity projectsrdquo and ldquokeep open lines of communication with representative citizens groupsrdquoResidents wished to ldquoDepoliticise the neighbourhood and reduce government footprint Absolutely no political signage and hoardings no blocking of roads and traffic for VIP movements and to move public meetings from VarshaSahyadri Guest House and minister residences to Mantralaya and party offices Stop traffic jams on our roadsrdquoParking painMumbairsquos biggest bugbear roads find mention in this manifesto with locals asking their representatives for ldquosmooth long lasting and overall good quality road surfaces are a must with clear road markingsrdquo Those residing on the swish SoBo Hill with some of the cityrsquos priciest real estate have been opposing no parking rules on their roads for months now Reports go back to April 2023 when residents raised a hue lsquonrsquo cry about being told not to park their cars on the roads any longer The parking imbroglio was welldocumented with news reports following how residents were out with banners that read lsquoplease stop harassment Allow parking on Ridge Roadrsquo Several of these banners were removed by authorities hours afterwards From then on though this has become a thorny problem and parking has become a battlefield between traffic authorities and residents in a space starved city It is no surprise then that the manifesto stated at the end ldquoStreetparking cannot be arbitrarily banned when citizens have grown to be dependent on these spaces especially in residential areasrdquoThere is a strong sign off in the charter that stated there should be ldquoNo parking for lsquoVIPrsquo and political party cars in Malabar Hill especially when parking is banned for everyone elserdquoLocals speakResident Prakash Munshi who met with Sawant said about the charter ldquoIt is a time when citizens have to speak out and they will Some representatives have somehow managed to get out of meeting the citizens Parties have their own manifestos and we citizens have our own We have to make sure we make them aware of this so that we are not told we did not make an effort to get our points acrossrdquoKranti Salvi a resident said ldquoWe have given Sawant the charter there are others who have got it too I know there is a lot of cynicism many people have lost hope asking why they should vote at all Yet I think this is worth pursuing and this is one of the few times that we get to meet them or see them at least We must make our voice heard whether they act or not there should be no want of trying on our partrdquoPervin Sanghvi of Friends of Malabar Hill said ldquoThe general consensus is that in these changing times we seek accountability Meet lsquonrsquo greets have happened earlier too they are not new What is novel is the number of manifestoscharters that citizens across are giving these leaders I call this a wish list with tangible demands and a valuable citizen resource toolrdquo