Citizens initiate clean-up drive

Beating the rainy Sunday morning’s blues, around 75 people gathered at Mumbai Central, urging others to ‘wake up’. Wanting to reclaim their “lost paradise”, residents of Morland Road, near Mumbai Central, took to the streets initiating a pilot project to clean up the lane and maintain it.

Beating the rainy Sunday morning’s blues, around 75 people gathered at Mumbai Central, urging others to ‘wake up’.

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Wanting to reclaim their “lost paradise”, residents of Morland Road, near Mumbai Central, took to the streets initiating a pilot project to clean up the lane and maintain it.

Activists Afzal and wife Nusrat Khatri, along with locals gathered to wake up to ‘years of decline’ and take matters into their hands. “This lane was called ‘Thandi Sadak’, owing to trees lining the street on both sides. The neglect was such that people had now started referring to it as ‘Gandi Sadak’, said Afzal.

Trucks dump debris late in the night and illegal parking of tempos meant that the footpaths were unusable, said Nusrat. “As per the initiative, we will be positioning security guards in the lane, to ensure no truck comes to dump the debris,” said Zainuddin Quettawalla, who was born and brought up in the lane.

The locals have also decided to reclaim the footpaths by ensuring that it’s cleared of filth and trash.