Lok Sabha elections 2024: Franchise wise through charters

Ridge road rumpus over parking ban last year. File pic

Simmering issues came to the fore as, ‘Friends of Malabar Hill' 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 representatives.

A ‘Meet the Candidates' 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, "informed voting." Then, a number of citizen's bodies from Altamount Road, Peddar Road, Breach Candy and Nepean Sea Road said that the meet was cancelled as, "The police had expressed concerns about the potential for confrontations amongst supporters of opposing candidates." In a late development though, some citizens did meet candidate Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena (UBT) from Mumbai South constituency, who arrived for a ‘walk the talk' meet with a few locals yesterday (Sunday) evening.

Green scene

The group presented their charter to Sawant there. Excerpts from the charter of demands cite concerns like, "Environment and sustainability." Within this, residents state the importance of, "Preserving the Malabar Hill Reservoir, Hanging Garden and Shantivan and saving 389 plus trees." 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 site.

The residents raised a demand for Siri Road protection saying in their charter that, "natural green areas of the hillsides of Malabar Hill and Siri Road are being irresponsibly-degraded, and there must be regulations and curbs on redevelopment projects and big-ticket construction activities."

The manifesto even has a line which states that there should be, "no more wastage of public funds on valueless vanity projects," and "keep open lines of communication with representative citizens groups."

Residents wished to, "Depoliticise 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 Varsha/Sahyadri Guest House and minister residences to Mantralaya and party offices. Stop traffic jams on our roads."

Parking pain

Mumbai's biggest bugbear, roads, find mention in this manifesto with locals asking their representatives for, "smooth, long lasting and overall good quality road surfaces are a must, with clear road markings." Those residing on the swish SoBo Hill with some of the city's 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 ‘n' cry about being told not to park their cars on the roads any longer. The parking imbroglio was well-documented with news reports following how residents were out with banners that read: ‘please stop harassment. Allow parking on Ridge Road.' 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, "Street-parking cannot be arbitrarily banned when citizens have grown to be dependent on these spaces, especially in residential areas."There is a strong sign off in the charter that stated there should be: "No parking for ‘VIP' and political party cars in Malabar Hill, especially when parking is banned for everyone else."

Locals speak

Resident Prakash Munshi who met with Sawant said about the charter, "It 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 across."

Kranti Salvi, a resident, said, "We 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 part."

Pervin Sanghvi, of Friends of Malabar Hill, said, "The general consensus is that in these changing times, we seek accountability. Meet ‘n' greets have happened earlier too, they are not new. What is novel is the number of manifestos/charters that citizens across are giving these leaders. I call this a wish list with tangible demands and a valuable citizen resource tool."