A pedestrian walkway built in 2023 with public funds to ease access to Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Temple remains unused more than two years after its inauguration. This temple, tucked away behind Bhulabhai Desai Road, has a narrow lane that serves as the entry/exit points for thousands of devotees who visit it for daily darshan. The alternative path has not achieved its objectives of crowd management or regulation. Authorities have not shifted the devotees and opened up the new pathway as access to the temple.

That was the purpose it was made for, but strangely, after two years, those crores made with taxpayers’ money seem to have gone down the drain, with the walkway not allowing devotees. This also means that a nightmare scenario continues for residents living on the side of the lane used by devotees. The access road to their homes is choked by devotees, mounds of footwear that are piled Everest high at times just outside their building gates.