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Lay anti-skid paver blocks on pavements: Navi Mumbai residents
Pedestrians cannot walk on slippery moss-covered pavements in the city during monsoon. They have to walk on roads, risking their lives.
Pedestrians cannot walk on slippery moss-covered pavements in the city during monsoon. They have to walk on roads, risking their lives.
After complaints from residents, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has started cleaning the pavements at Vashi. They have plans to do the same at other nodes of the city too, a senior officer said.
On Saturday, the pavements were cleaned at Vashi, ward no 64.
Divya Gaikwad, local corporator, said, “Dust accumulates on the pavements throughout the year and when it starts raining those go to the gaps between the paver blocks. Within a few days, algae grow and pavements become slippery, making it impossible for the pedestrians to walk on them.”
“We have starting cleaning the pavements using boric acid, which kills the algae instantly,” she said.
Such cleaning work cannot be done during heavy rainfall. “If we put boric acid on the pavements during heavy rainfall, the rain water washes them away and that serves no purpose.”
A senior officer from NMMC said, “We have received complaints about slippery pavements from residents of other nodes such as Kopar Khairane, Nerul, Sanpada, Airoli, Ghansoli among others. We are planning to clean pavements in other areas.”
Activists and residents, however, said the NMMC is wasting taxpayers’ money.
Manish Salve, 38, an activist from Vashi, said, “Pedestrians cannot use most pavements because of encroachers. NMMC should think of putting anti-skid paver blocks on pavements where algae cannot grow,” he said.
Sunil Singh, 48, a Vashi resident said, “Anti-skid paver blocks will remain algae-free throughout the year. NMMC is one of the richest civic bodies in the country. They can afford it.”
An NMMC official said they would have to decide considering their budget.
“Anti-skid paver blocks are costlier. If we have to spend Rs1,000 for covering a specific distance with normal paver blocks, we have to spend Rs 2,500 for covering the same distance with anti-skid ones,” he said.
Corporator Gaikwad seconded the residents’ suggestion, saying it is a permanent solution. “It is not necessary to put anti-skid paver blocks in the entire city in the same year. The civic body can cover one node every year,” she said.
