Bandra East high-rise residents oppose clinic for poor
While the residents are not opposed to the clinic in the vicinity, the civic body should find a spot close to the slums behind the housing society, they contend
MUMBAI: Residents of Kanakia Paris Cooperative Housing Society, a high-rise in Bandra East, have opposed the construction of an HBT Aapla Dawakhana clinic outside the society’s main gate. As workers appointed by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s contractor arrived at the spot on Wednesday to construct the clinic, residents held a peaceful protest, until they stopped the work, and eventually filed a police complaint at the Kherwadi police station.
Mihir Kamdar, a resident, said that reason around 2000 residents of 450 flats are opposed to the public clinic outside their gate is because the road which leads to a dead-end, is being extended to connect two metro stations; and throwing a clinic in the mix would lead to a traffic clog. “There will be families and children thronging the clinic, which would translate to additional vehicles parked here. We face traffic snarls at the gate already,” said Kamdar.
While the residents are not opposed to the clinic in the vicinity, Kamdar said, the civic body should find a spot close to the slums behind the housing society, which would benefit everyone. “We have documents to show that when the clinic was being planned in July, this was not the spot for it. There were three options, including Dyaneshwar Nagar, Motilal Nehru Nagar in BKC and Kalina,” he said.
The secretary of the housing society, who did not wish to be named, added, “We have proposed an alternative location for the clinic, which is currently an encroached space used for parking. It is closer to the slums.”
After the clinic’s construction began three weeks ago, the residents dashed off a protest letter to the H East ward office and municipal commissioner airing their concerns, on October 14, and followed up on it with assistant commissioner of the ward, Swapnaja Kshirsagar, said the secretary. “The official promised to check out the alternative area we were proposing. Hence when the contractor arrived at our gate, we were shocked,” he added.
Kshirsagar did not respond to HT’s questions to present her side of the issue.
Meanwhile, the need for an Aapla Dawakhana in the area is the need of the hour. A doctor at the only BMC-run dispensary at Bharat Nagar, a slum in the vicinity, said, “On a good day, I get an average of 120 to 150 patients. This number also goes up to 200 often. There is a massive slum population here, from Dyaneshwar Nagar and Maharashtra Nagar. This is the only clinic that caters to all.”
As the dispensary runs between 9am an 4pm only, it prevents many slum dwellers from getting proper healthcare. An Aapla Dawakhana runs between 7am and 3pm, and 3pm and 10pm, he added.
Another resident of the area, Santosh Sharma, underscored the need, to cater to the “huge slum population here”. “There is another HBT clinic in far off Behrampada, close to Bandra station. The closest government hospitals are either Bhabha Hospital in Bandra West or the V N Desai Municipal General Hospital in Santacruz East,” said Sharma.
Akshu Kamble, a resident of the Maharashtra Nagar slum, said given the distance of the nearest civic body-serviced clinic, most of them end up turning to private facilities in the area. “When my nephew had seizures and fever recently, we admitted him in a private hospital here as his treatment has been ongoing there since his childhood,” he said.