Mumbai: Abandoned vehicles clog up Bandra's narrow roads

Decrepit vehicles on the stretch leading to Carter Road

Traffic congestion and space crunch have become synonymous with Mumbai, but it's more infuriating when your already limited space - to park or walk or drive on - is further reduced by abandoned and decrepit vehicles dotting the roadsides. Bandra West residents are fed up of this and have been posting complaints on Twitter in a bid to get their elected representatives to fix the issue.

mid-day spent Thursday evening surveying several parts of the tony suburb and spoke to some harried residents.

Double parking near Gold's Gym. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

Narrow nuisance
We started from Telephone Exchange on KC Marg, where a line of old vehicles occupies a section of the road, leaving less space for vehicular traffic and causing jams and bottlenecks during rush hours. If cleared, it would give substantial breathing room to motorists and smoothen the flow. Near Pali Hill, abandoned bikes and cars on a side of Ambedkar road make an ugly picture, made worse by punctured cars a little ahead, lined up next to the footpath. "These cars haven't moved an inch in many days," said a local autorickshaw driver.

Near Mount Mary Church steps

Another, Mohammed Ainul, said, "Old vehicles taking up space, coupled with haphazard parking, hardly leaves any room for motorists." On the route leading to the popular Carter Road were old and broken down autorickshaws and taxis, in a state of utter mess, once again taking up a section of an otherwise wide road. While a narrow bylane ahead had been turned into a choked strip of a street due to double parking of vehicles.

A worrying epidemic
The scenes were similar on SV Road, Linking Road, Lucky Road, TRP IV 9th Road, Prof. Almeida Road and Kadeshwari Marg. Residents of Almeida Road have been apoplectic, but in vain so far.

Near Bandra telephone exchange

"I registered a complaint in January with the police regarding this. They arrived the next day and assured of action, but nothing has happened yet. There are punctured vehicles, those parked randomly and two-wheelers often left parked in front of building gates. We residents don't get any space to park our vehicles," said Sunita Fernandes, a resident of Almeida Park.

Another resident, Stella Noronha, said, "This is a one-way street, but riders come in from any side. At night, they speed in a crazy manner. And sometimes, even cars enter the lane, despite the no-entry sign."

Near Gold's Gym, Bandra

On Manuel Gonsalves Road, we found a white sedan, which, residents said, seemed to have made a home for itself by the roadside for the past many months. "The space could be occupied by some vehicle that needs it. Such abandoned cars need to be pulled off the street," said a senior citizen, out for his evening walk.

Action promised
Responding to a troubled resident's tweet, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar wrote that he would conduct a special drive on this issue after May 15. When contacted, Shelar told mid-day that he had tweeted about the issue and that was his statement.

On SV Road, Bandra. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar, Atul Kamble

mid-day spoke to Senior Police Inspector (Traffic), Bandra West, Rehana Shaikh, who said, "We are working on this daily, taking action based on CCTV footage. Our towing vehicles tow away illegally parked vehicles every day. From the traffic branch, four to five constables, called riders, take regular action on no-parking and other offences.

"As far as old abandoned cars are concerned, local police stations and corporation are taking action."

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