Matunga: Residents stop BMC from concreting heritage footpaths

A worker shaped stones for the revamp of footpaths at Five Gardens before the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee directed that the work be stopped. Pic/Atul Kamble

Residents of the Five Gardens area in Matunga were successful in stopping civic authorities from allegedly concreting footpaths in the locality as the stones the present walkways use are 100 years old, which the residents want to preserve. The site is also listed as a heritage site. Meanwhile, the BMC has reassured the residents of Five Gardens that they will only add ramps to the existing footpath infrastructure.

Darayus Bacha, a local resident, said, "Initially, there was concreting work proposed for the footpaths in Five Gardens but we opposed it as we wanted to preserve the 100-year-old rocks. On Friday, the BMC held a meeting with us and reassured us that they will only be adding ramps to the existing footpaths to make them accessible for disabled individuals. As of now, there is no concreting work happening at Five Gardens." He added, "We were shown a PPT (PowerPoint Presentation) by the BMC officials. There will be a site visit post which the spots will be decided for putting the ramps in place."

In the absence of Assistant Municipal Commissioner Prithviraj Chavan who is on leave, Kiran Badgujar, assistant engineer, F North ward, told mid-day, "There was no concreting work proposed in the area. There is an NGO that works to increase accessibility for disabled individuals. They approached us to install ramps along footpaths at Five Gardens.

The residents feared that this would also mean concreting of the footpath, leading to the destruction of the 100-year-old basalt rocks which is why they had approached us. At the meeting today [Friday], the NGO showed the PPT to the residents explaining what the ramps would look like and that the move would not damage the rocks. All the parties involved agreed to this plan. There is no final decision taken on the matter of where exactly the ramps to the footpaths will be placed."