Who will repair this ‘No man’s land’?

Mumbai People call the exit road from Ram Mandir (East) station a ‘No man’s land’ for a reason

Mumbai People call the exit road from Ram Mandir (East) station a ‘No man’s land’ for a reason. Freya Mistry is one of the many frustrated citizens who have to navigate this path every day while on their way to work or otherwise.

The 27-year-old banker has been trying to draw the attention of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and railway authorities to fix this pothole-ridden way for the last one month (VIjay Bate)

The 27-year-old banker has been trying to draw the attention of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and railway authorities to fix this pothole-ridden way for the last one month. All she has managed to elicit in this time is a blame game between the two governing agencies.

Many pedestrians as well as commuters use this road as it connects to a nearby business park, which houses many corporate offices.

“The authorities have mastered the exercise of passing the buck. I have been reaching out to them through different platforms. While BMC has acknowledged the complaint on Twitter and said that it falls under the purview of Western Railway (WR), the WR grievance officer asked me to go to the railway station and file a complaint in the book. When I asked the ticketing officer for the book, he was clueless,” said Mistry.

Freya also filed a complaint on the Rail Madad platform (a space for grievances by Indian Railways) and Aaple Sarkar Portal (run by Maharashtra government to register grievances).

The civic body responded on Aaple Sarkar, saying the road is under railway’s jurisdiction, while the latter’s response on the Rail Madad app was that the onus was not on the railway department.

Rajesh Akare, assistant municipal commissioner of P-South ward, said, “This land is the liability of railways. We carried out temporary work on this patch in the past on humanitarian grounds, but railways should maintain it. Many citizens travel through this road to the nearby business park and it sees vehicular movement as well. If the railways cannot maintain it, they can hand it over to us.”

A resident from the area, Manoj Sharma, said, “We call it the ‘No man’s land’. We have sent various letters to BMC and Railways, but they do not revert or visit us. Neither takes responsibility.”

An official from Western Railway said, “Only the first 15 meters outside Ram Madir (East) station east is under railway and already maintained by our department.”

The official claimed to be unaware about the ownership of the remaining area.