Towards greener pastures! |
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When the Malabar Hill Citizen’s Forum (MCF) prepared a project for a sea walk and promenade leading from Priyadarshini park to Amarson park, little did they realise it would take them ten years to get the project started. When the project was initiated, there were no mangroves along the sea front, so they were sure there would be no environmental objection. They also thought that this was one good way of preventing slums and any other unauthorized encroachments from coming up. |
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Now after ten years, work on the project is soon to begin. The MCF has proposed to build a bund from the southern end of Priyadarshini Park on Napean Sea Road right upto Amarson Park on Bhulabhai Desai Road. This bund is aimed at not only checking the illegal reclamation and encroachments of the sea shore, but will also provide a beautiful promenade wide enough for people to walk on. Subsequently, the bund will also be beautified and there will be seats where people can rest and relax. |
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| Well known architect Shashi Prabhu and Prof Ramakant Jha from IIT Powai, will provide the technical assistance. The funds will be raised by local residents and NGOs will also be contributing towards the project. | |||||
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Former Congress MLA, B A Desai, who is the President of the MCF explained, “The length of the bund will be 2,063 metres. It will be around six feet wide and the height will vary according to site conditions. The cost of this project will be around Rs 6.5 crores.” When the bund is completed, it will help the coastline deal with the dangers of erosion. Although at some areas, parts of the sea fronts have been reclaimed, and slums have sprung up. |
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What has been the result, a beautiful sea shore that is being environmentally degraded and water polluted. Continued Mr Desai, “A recent World Bank report has declared that air-pollution in Mumbai has increased to hazardous levels. We are inhaling smoke equivalent to almost two-and-a-half packets of cigarretes a day. We are hoping that this green stretch of land will help us deal with these pollution levels,” he added. Interestingly, this is not the first project of the MCF. They have helped conceive three parks in the city, Priyadarshini park, Tata park and Vasantdada Udayan. Quite simply, it goes with their philosophy of improving the quality of living in the city, for its people. |
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