Dadar: A truly Mumbaikar's ward faces sanitation, garbage and hawkers'issues

  • 07/02/2012

  • Free Press Journal (Mumbai)

In face to face, an election special programme by sister publication Navshakti, we spoke to local residents regarding the issues in the ward as well as what promises the contestants have to make. Ward profile : Ward name : Kamgar Krida Kendra - Dadar Railway Station Ward No. 184 Reservation : OBC Sitting corporator : Snehal Jadhav ( Shiv Sena) Population : 52781 ( SC : 4980, ST : 121) Teething issues : Local residents face a inconvenience due to the fish market located outside Kamgar stadium. Heaps of garbage are found lying around and cleanliness issues are unaddressed. Locals want the market to be removed. Hawker menace is another big issue since many years. Despite BMCs repeated action upon the hawkers, they promptly return. There is also a demand to amend the town planning act for improvement of overall infrastructure in the area. Candidates: Prathamesh Kolambkar, son on Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar has won a Congress ticket from the ward while sitting corporator Snehal Jadhavs ( Shiv Sena) husband Sudhir has been fielded by the MNS. Yashwant Vichale is the Shiv Sena candidate in the fray. The fight is thus a triangular one. Promises: Prathamesh Kolambkar contesting on the Congress ticket has nothing to fall back on except his fathers reputation as the MLA. He has promised that he will put an end to the hawker menace and rehabilitate the hawkers them elsewhere. He claims to be working in the ward since three- four years for various issues. Shiv Senas Yashwant Vichale said that as a Sena 'shakha pramukh'( officebearer) he has followed up on removal of the fish market from the area and promises to deliver results. He claims that Shiv Sena did raise the hawker issue and had been successful to a great extent. The party also took the issue up to the CM level through MLC Diwakar Raote. He claims that due to vested interests involved the BMC is facing hurdles in taking action on hawkers. He also claimed that his party has been taking up the issue of garbage since many years. Sudhir Jadhav of the MNS said that it was during the Shiv Sena government that the market relocation issue was taken up. A hawkers'plaza was also erected. But the BMC failed in its planning. Instead of removing hawkers from the area, he urged the residents to understand that hawkers were an integral part of their lives. He promised to take the issue to the CM office through MLA Kolambkar.