Poorest Mankhurd ward to get an aesthetic facelift

The M (East) ward in Mankhurd, considered one of the poorest areas in the city, has invited a ₹12-crore tender for the civic body’s ambitious beautification project with a December deadline. Clock tower and viewing gallery on the anvil

The M (East) ward in Mankhurd, considered one of the poorest areas in the city, has invited a ₹12-crore tender for the civic body’s ambitious beautification project with a December deadline.

Mumbai, India - Oct. 30, 2022: A top view of the Govandi slums in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, October 30, 2022. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

M (East), an unglamorous ward to put it mildly, is 70 percent slums flanked by the Deonar dumping ground. Litterbugs, garbage strewn around and the unceremonious dumping of debris from other wards make it tough to keep it clean. Keeping these challenges in mind, Mahendra Ubale, assistant municipal commissioner of the ward, sought an opinion from urban aesthetic consultants before embarking on the beautification project.

“After the consultation, we decided on several features,” Ubale told HT. “One, we will install a clock tower like the Rajabai clock tower at a traffic island at Indian Oil Nagar. “Then we want to have a viewing gallery at the jetty side in Trombay with a view to providing a recreational space to residents of this ward. Other wards have open spaces and beaches, but there’s a dearth of such spaces here.” The viewing gallery, still in the planning stage, will cost ₹50 crore.

The beautification of other places like footpaths, bridges and roads has been designed by the corporation itself. ₹30 crore has been sanctioned for each of the 24 administrative wards, and a single tender of ₹12 crore has been invited for 21 locations. Some of these locations include footpaths from Borba Devi Garden to Jai Santoshi Paper and Steel Mart shop, central median dividers, spaces beneath flyovers and walls at Indian Oil Nagar, which will be beautified with 3D paintings.

With regard to the garbage in the ward, Ubale pointed out that the issue arose mainly in the slums. “We go door to door manually to lift garbage,” he said. “We are planning to appoint a contractor who will take five beat locations on a trial basis to create public awareness and collect garbage in a unique way. At present we have NGOs who collect garbage. But a contractor on our payroll and daily wages will ensure that not only is garbage collected but no littering is done either.”