‘Neither BCCI nor police warned us,' say residents of Marine Drive

The epic victory parade held at Marine Drive to welcome Team India has left locals fuming as lakhs of fans who thronged the promenade brought Maximum City to a full halt for hours on Thursday Residents asked what lsquocrimersquo they had committed to be lsquodetainedrsquo inside their homes like this Motorists who had to switch off their engines for over six hours have slammed the traffic cops atOptions key d0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7 format iframe height 90 width 728 params Tricolourwaving fans who came from various corners of the city and adjacent districts climbed onto everything in sight including the branches of trees dividers vehicles and boundary walls just to get a glimpse of Team India Interestingly children and adults were seen seated atop a police car with their legs dangling while others were seated on the bonnet of the car when the cops were occupied with bandobastrelated work at the promenadeScores of dented vehicles were spotted at Marine Drive on Friday PicsAnurag AhireldquoThankfully no untoward incident took place There could have easily been a stampede where people would have died The area was absolutely packed Fortunately no resident of any building had a medical emergency as nobody could think of venturing out as the entire stretch was packed with cricket fansrdquo said Ashok Gupta president Marine Drive Citizensrsquo Association MDCA atOptions key d0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7 format iframe height 90 width 728 params Petition on cardsThe Board of Control for Cricket of India BCCI organised the victory parade for Team India from the National Centre for the Performing Arts NCPA to Wankhede Stadium Asked if the BCCI or Mumbai police had called any joint meeting before finalising the felicitation ceremony for Team India Gupta said ldquoNo event should be organised at the cost of localsrsquo convenience We were not informed by the BCCI or the Mumbai police We came to know about this event through the media We learnt about the event through the Mumbai policersquos X profilerdquoCricket fans climbed onto everything in sight including trees vehicles dividers and walls to get a glimpse of Team India on Thursday evening PicsDiwakar SharmaldquoWe are seriously considering filing a petition so that no such event is organised in the future without taking locals into confidence Residents have suffered a lot because of this parade Crowds entered the premises of residential buildings where many vehicles were damaged Fans climbed onto the tops of cars to view cricketersrdquo Gupta told midday ldquoIf we are informed well in advance about any such event we can inform residents to plan their day accordingly so that their lives are not paralysedrdquo added Gupta atOptions key d0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7 format iframe height 90 width 728 params Heart patient inconveniencedA 68yearold resident Suresh Chhabria was stopped by the traffic police en route to Dadar where he was to visit a doctor for a spine issue ldquoMy wife was driving the car The traffic police stopped the vehicle for 10 minutes I had to step out and argue with the traffic policeman Why was I stopped Where was the traffic managementrdquo fumed ChhabrialdquoAfter seeing my doctor we returned to Marine Drive around 930 pm But the situation was horrible We had to wait for 30 minutes on the road near my house A threestar officer was there and he told us that if we move ahead the fans might break the side mirrors of my car I told the police that I was a patient and had had a bypass surgery but all requests went in vain We had to wait unnecessarily on the roadrdquo he addedldquoI am not blaming the Marine Drive police at all Irsquom only talking about the traffic police and their mismanagement The Mumbai police commissioner was quoted in a newspaper as saying that ambulances were allowed to go But what about patients travelling in their own cars Canrsquot a patient travel in a car to meet his doctor Am I not a citizen of this country Where was the management Please answer these questions Mr commissionerrdquo Chhabria saidHe added ldquoWhat we witnessed on Thursday evening was utter chaos We are not against cricket but the traffic management was terrible We were informed by the police about the traffic situation at the eleventh hour What crime have Marine Drive residents committed We were trapped and locked up in our own homesrdquolsquoExecutive should use mindrsquoAnother local resident Advocate Prerak Chaudhary said ldquoAs much as I appreciate the spirit of the event and congratulate the victorious team creating lawlessness and a nuisance for the citizenry is uncalled for It must be deprecated in the strongest words The executive should apply their mind and have basic common sense to think of the effect such events can have on people facing an emergency We have done this on a working day during peak evening traffic hours on one of the busiest roads of our city now leading to the Coastal roadrdquoMahendra Hemdev a Marine Drive resident said ldquoDespite the unprecedented crowd we were fortunate there was no stampede The police were stretched but performed admirably Such events need careful planning in the futurerdquoMost of the seafacing buildings near Wankhede Stadium such as Krishna Sadan Ganga Vihar Shiv Sadan Chateau Marine and Jyoti Sadan have shallow boundary walls making them an easy target for unruly crowds All these buildings are a part of the UNESCOs Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai inscribed in the World Heritage List 2018When midday visited the spot a few damaged vehicles could still be spotted in the Wankhede lane near the Vinoo Mankad Gate along with broken and fallen barricades and damaged signsldquoAlmost all cars in my lane and the nearby buildings are damaged as crowds had been standing on them Who is going to pay for all this damage The windows mirrors and antennae of some cars have been destroyed This was completely unnecessaryrdquo a resident saidIndrani Malkani chairman of V Citizens Action Network said it was ldquosheer euphoriardquo in a city mad about cricket ldquoThe residents may be right in their way but Thursdayrsquos gathering was an outburst of excitement joy and patriotismrdquo she saidFan SpeakViraj Kadbhane a resident of Nashik who had come to Mumbai along with his elder brother to see Virat Kohli told midday ldquoI got separated from my sibling in the crowd so I will return home by train alone Irsquove been fortunate to see Virat and Team India up closerdquoSuresh Chhabria heart patient who was stopped by traffic police PICShadab KhanA taxi driver Khalil Ansari who ferried a passenger from Worli to Nariman Point on Thursday said ldquoMany people climbed on my taxi damaging it I requested the fans to desist but the situation got out of hand as no one was listening Luckily I also got a chance to see Team India but my entire day was wasted because of the trafficrdquoMeet Thakkar a Borivli resident was among the many fans who lost their highend phones during the event He told midday ldquoI clicked so many photos and videos before losing my phone I rushed to the Marine Drive police station and registered a complaintrdquo11 fans injuredMeet Thakkar Borivli residentA total of 11 were injured during the chaos that erupted on Marine Drive during the victory parade All were taken to GT hospital and one of them was admitted Dr Jitendra Sankpal who heads GT Hospital said ldquoThe person who was admitted had fractured his foot and is in the surgical ward The other ten were kept under observation in the night and discharged on Friday morningrdquo atOptions key d0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7 format iframe height 90 width 728 params With inputs from Eshan Kalyanikar