Team India victory parade: ‘Neither BCCI nor police warned us,' say residents of Marine Drive

Cricket fans climbed onto everything in sight, including trees, vehicles and walls, to get a glimpse of Team India on Thursday evening. Pic/Diwakar Sharma

The epic victory parade held at Marine Drive to welcome Team India has left locals fuming as lakhs of fans who thronged the promenade brought Maximum City to a full halt for hours on Thursday. Residents asked what ‘crime' they had committed to be ‘detained' inside their homes like this. Motorists who had to switch off their engines for over six hours, have slammed the traffic cops.

Tricolour-waving fans, who came from various corners of the city and adjacent districts, climbed onto everything in sight, including the branches of trees, dividers, vehicles and boundary walls, just to get a glimpse of Team India. Interestingly, children and adults were seen seated atop a police car with their legs dangling, while others were seated on the bonnet of the car when the cops were occupied with bandobast-related work at the promenade.

Scores of dented vehicles were spotted at Marine Drive on Friday. Pics/Anurag Ahire

"Thankfully no untoward incident took place. There could have easily been a stampede where people would have died. The area was absolutely packed. Fortunately, no resident of any building had a medical emergency as nobody could think of venturing out as the entire stretch was packed with cricket fans," said Ashok Gupta, president, Marine Drive Citizens' Association (MDCA).

Petition on cards?

The Board of Control for Cricket of India (BCCI) organised the victory parade for Team India from the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) to Wankhede Stadium. Asked if the BCCI or Mumbai police had called any joint meeting before finalising the felicitation ceremony for Team India, Gupta said, "No event should be organised at the cost of locals' convenience. We were not informed by the BCCI or the Mumbai police. We came to know about this event through the media. We learnt about the event through the Mumbai police's X profile."

Cricket fans climbed onto everything in sight, including trees, vehicles, dividers and walls, to get a glimpse of Team India on Thursday evening. Pics/Diwakar Sharma

"We are seriously considering filing a petition so that no such event is organised in the future without taking locals into confidence. Residents have suffered a lot because of this parade. Crowds entered the premises of residential buildings where many vehicles were damaged. Fans climbed onto the tops of cars to view cricketers," Gupta told mid-day. "If we are informed well in advance about any such event, we can inform residents to plan their day accordingly so that their lives are not paralysed," added Gupta.

Heart patient inconvenienced

A 68-year-old resident, Suresh Chhabria, was stopped by the traffic police en route to Dadar where he was to visit a doctor for a spine issue. "My wife was driving the car. The traffic police stopped the vehicle for 10 minutes. I had to step out and argue with the traffic policeman. Why was I stopped? Where was the traffic management?" fumed Chhabria.

"After seeing my doctor, we returned to Marine Drive around 9.30 pm. But the situation was horrible! We had to wait for 30 minutes on the road near my house. A three-star officer was there and he told us that if we move ahead, the fans might break the side mirrors of my car. I told the police that I was a patient and had had a bypass surgery but all requests went in vain. We had to wait unnecessarily on the road," he added.

"I am not blaming the Marine Drive police at all; I'm only talking about the traffic police and their mismanagement. The Mumbai police commissioner was quoted in a newspaper as saying that ambulances were allowed to go. But what about patients travelling in their own cars? Can't a patient travel in a car to meet his doctor? Am I not a citizen of this country? Where was the management? Please answer these questions, Mr commissioner," Chhabria said.

He added, "What we witnessed on Thursday evening was utter chaos. We are not against cricket, but the traffic management was terrible. We were informed by the police about the traffic situation at the eleventh hour! What crime have Marine Drive residents committed? We were trapped and locked up in our own homes."

‘Executive should use mind'

Another local resident Advocate Prerak Chaudhary said, "As much as I appreciate the spirit of the event and congratulate the victorious team, creating lawlessness and a nuisance for the citizenry is uncalled for. It must be deprecated in the strongest words. The executive should apply their mind and have basic common sense to think of the effect such events can have on people facing an emergency. We have done this on a working day during peak evening traffic hours on one of the busiest roads of our city, now leading to the Coastal road."

Mahendra Hemdev, a Marine Drive resident, said, "Despite the unprecedented crowd, we were fortunate there was no stampede. The police were stretched but performed admirably. Such events need careful planning in the future."

Most of the sea-facing buildings near Wankhede Stadium such as Krishna Sadan, Ganga Vihar, Shiv Sadan, Chateau Marine and Jyoti Sadan have shallow boundary walls, making them an easy target for unruly crowds. All these buildings are a part of the UNESCO's Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai inscribed in the World Heritage List 2018.

When mid-day visited the spot, a few damaged vehicles could still be spotted in the Wankhede lane near the Vinoo Mankad Gate along with broken and fallen barricades and damaged signs.

"Almost all cars in my lane and the nearby buildings are damaged as crowds had been standing on them. Who is going to pay for all this damage? The windows, mirrors and antennae of some cars have been destroyed. This was completely unnecessary," a resident said.

Indrani Malkani, chairman of V Citizens Action Network, said it was "sheer euphoria" in a city mad about cricket. "The residents may be right in their way, but Thursday's gathering was an outburst of excitement, joy and patriotism," she said.

Fan Speak

Viraj Kadbhane, a resident of Nashik who had come to Mumbai along with his elder brother to see Virat Kohli, told mid-day, "I got separated from my sibling in the crowd, so I will return home by train alone. I've been fortunate to see Virat and Team India up close."

Suresh Chhabria, heart patient who was stopped by traffic police. PIC/Shadab Khan

A taxi driver, Khalil Ansari, who ferried a passenger from Worli to Nariman Point on Thursday, said, "Many people climbed on my taxi, damaging it. I requested the fans to desist but the situation got out of hand as no one was listening. Luckily, I also got a chance to see Team India, but my entire day was wasted because of the traffic."

Meet Thakkar, a Borivli resident, was among the many fans who lost their high-end phones during the event. He told mid-day, "I clicked so many photos and videos before losing my phone. I rushed to the Marine Drive police station and registered a complaint."

11 fans injured

Meet Thakkar, Borivli resident

A total of 11 were injured during the chaos that erupted on Marine Drive during the victory parade. All were taken to GT hospital, and one of them was admitted. Dr Jitendra Sankpal, who heads GT Hospital, said, "The person who was admitted had fractured his foot and is in the surgical ward. The other ten were kept under observation in the night and discharged on Friday morning."

With inputs from Eshan Kalyanikar