Saturday, June 20, 2009

Bombay: Urban Planning Basket Case : 3

They've been building a 'skywalk' for the past few months to facilitate movement of pedestrians to and from Bandra station on its western side. Now comes news that the three-armed elevated walkway will have to make do with two arms and a stump. The section that was to travel down to Globus has been curtailed, because the entry point at Hill Road is too narrow. The question arises: why did MMRDA take years to discover the inconvenient dimensions of the street? I mean, it was bad enough when these guys tried to build three subways across Cadell Road, hit water mains they didn't know were there, and decided after months of dithering to fill up the holes they'd dug. But Lucky junction's above ground, standing in broad daylight. No new buildings have come up unexpectedly at that spot. It is as wide or narrow as it has always been, and offers few options for land acquisition.
I'm dreading even more the day the MMRDA people get their paws on DN Road and other areas between VT and Churchgate, where a network of skywalks are planned.

8 comments:

adrian mckinty said...

Do you prefer Bombay to Mumbai or just dont care?

A friend of mine was hitchhiking once in Northern Ireland about twenty miles from Derry/Londonderry. Driver stops. "Where are you going?" he asks. "Derry" my friend says. "Never heard of it," the driver says and drives on.

Girish Shahane said...

Adrian, I use Bombay in English, Mumbai in Marathi and Bambai in Hindi; just as people who use Sham and Haleb in Arabic switch to Damascus and Aleppo in English; Italians use Florence, Venice and Rome when they speak English, instead of Firenze, Venezia and Roma; and so on. Chauvinists want the Marathi version to be used in all languages, so I guess it's a political statement of sorts to retain Bombay.

DS said...

I am amazed you still wonder at the workings of the BMC. Ofcourse, they have no blueprint of what they want to do BEFORE they start out, they are spontaneous artists, they improvise along the way at our considerable expense.
Two days ago there was a flurry of officials and photographers on Nepean Sea Road to cover someone from the BMC plant some (pathetic) saplings. I messaged Shekhar Chore (D ward head) and Mr Kolabkar the D ward Assistant Engineer that since the road was now "done" could I please have a copy of the blueprint of services laid under the road?.As I expected,got no answer. Now I am convinced there is no blueprint even after works are finished, and that is truly scary.

Anonymous said...

just as people who use Sham and Haleb in Arabic switch to Damascus and Aleppo in English;

I guess, you mean either 'people who use Syria...' or'switch to Damashk and Aleppo....

Girish Shahane said...

No, I meant what I wrote. Sham is the word by which Syrians denote their capital when they speak Arabic. It used to refer to Syria in general, but is now used specifically for Damascus.

Anonymous said...

blueprint ? from the bmc? surely you are joking ?

remember they didnt have blueprints to give security agencies during the 26/11 massacre.

but i am in a charitable mood so may i suggest RTI ? Magic words those. M/c Chore and co may actually try to get their hands on it. S Anand

DS said...

Well they kept claiming it will be "Shanghai" type of road! And msging him for a blueprint was me being tongue in cheek and to needle him. They keep dragging our name in wilfully every time they talk to the press giving the implication we are complicit with their (mis)doings so I msged that if they did so again will tell the press our version of the truth.
There are lots of gullible citizens being taken with his words. Its apparent now that the road is opened that 90 feet was unnecessary, 80 or 75feet would have sufficed, those crucial 10 extra feet made a huge difference to the number of trees being cut and the quality of living for the land owners. That they cannot understand: that someone would not want more money in lieu of some quality of life.

clemde@gmail.com said...

That puts into perspective the name change like nothing else.