Mumbai: Abandoned cars still clogging up the streets of Bandra

mid-day follow-up: Weeks after the authorities promise to act against discarded vehicles choking Bandra's narrow roads, this paper finds very little has changed on the ground

Cars have been abandoned near Maydale society for so long that vegetation is starting to grow around them. Pic/Sameer Markande

Three weeks after this paper highlighted how abandoned vehicles had clogged the streets of Bandra, mid-day found the situation much improved on Tuesday, especially on the arterial SV and Link Road. On some of the other roads, however, many of the discarded cars had not moved an inch, and continued to hog precious road space. Officials said that while action is being initiated, citizens continue to park or dump their vehicles willy-nilly.

Traffic was flowing smoother on SV and Link Road, both of which witness massive passage of vehicles long into the wee hours. No cars had been abandoned or parked haphazardly. However, just a few metres away, on the 14th and 15th Road, locals claimed that a few forsaken vehicles hadn't moved at all.

Cars dumped haphazardly at Ambedkar Road are eating into parking space and road surface as well

'No one's doing anything'
It was much the same at Ambedkar Road, 1st Road at Union Park and Carter Road, where old vehicles had been left stationary for weeks on end. Locals at Chimbai Road said three tourist vehicles had been abandoned there for months — their tyres punctured and the vehicles covered with a thick layer of dust. "These vehicles have been lying here for a long time, and nobody seems to have done anything," said resident Chaya Chavan. Chhotu Yadav, a security guard at one of the buildings added, "Parking space is often unavailable in the area due to these derelict cars."

At Almeida Park, the same story continued. mid-day had reported earlier how one of the residents, Sunita Fernandes, had registered a complaint with the police over illegal parking outside the building. She was unavailable for comment on Tuesday, but another resident, Manohar More, said, "These cars haven't move at all. It needs to be looked into urgently," he stated.

"Already there isn't enough space for motorists. It is worsened by these cars lying around," said Ashraf Chaudhuri, pointing to yet another abandoned car. "Something has to be done on the roads," says another citizen, adding, "Waroda Road has the same problem. That's the shortcut to Hill Road. But cars are parked on both sides, so there isn't enough space for a two-way road."

Action started, says MLA
Replying to a tweet, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar had earlier said that action would be taken from May 15 onwards. On Tuesday, he told mid-day, "We have started taking action on abandoned vehicles and unruly drivers already, and will be following up on this to our full strength," said Shelar. "We do not act on abandoned vehicles. The BMC takes action by towing such vehicles to the dumping ground. However, the traffic police has been taking action through clamps and e-challan," said Sharad Ovhal, senior police inspector (Traffic), Bandra West. Despite repeated attempts to contact Nidhi Chaudhuri, the concerned BMC official, she remained unavailable for comment.

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