Mumbai: More than 55 years after Cuffe Parade was created out of reclaimed land on Back Bay, the prime residential locality will be connected to the rest of the city by Mass Rapid Transit (MRT).
The underground Metro Line 3, also called the Aqua Line, is expected to start services in May-June 2025, providing commuters an alternate route to travel to the extreme south of the city without using the roads.
Cuffe Parade residents are looking at the mid-year inauguration of the Metro route with both hope and trepidation.
Cuffe Parade, which has 81 buildings, including high-rise apartments, office buildings, and a luxury hotel, is already facing an onslaught of encroachments on its roads and open spaces.
Residents fear the Metro will bring thousands of visitors and hawkers into the narrow roads. FPJ spoke to members of the Cuffe Parade Residents Association (CPRA) about their worries and what they thought should be done by government authorities to allay their fears.
Q: The Metro: will it be a boon or curse?
Dr Laura D’Souza, president, CPRA: It will be a boon because of the accessibility it will provide; the narrow roads make it difficult to get in and out of Cuffe Parade. Traffic drives us nuts. However, I do not know how many Cuffe Parade residents will use it.
Dr Padmakar Nandekar, chairman (committees and plots) CPRA: Staff at the World Trade Centre, Maker Towers, G D Somani School, and the hotel will be able to use the Metro.
Preeti Bedi: Honorary secretary, CPRA: The metro is a way forward. It will always be a boon if we realise that it needs a whole lot of supporting infrastructure. The increase in traffic of human movement will need proper food courts, and would need proper areas where they can walk.
Bharati Bhatijaa, Executive Committee Member, CPRA: Possibly, better paid office goers now using trains may use these. Also , while going from here the residents are not going to use it as last mile connectivity is not there. A person like me will not use the metro and then take a rickshaw to the destination.
Q: There is a fear that the Metro will bring hawkers on the road outside the station.
Bhatijaa: It will be quite taxing on the President (Hotel) and adjoining buildings as there will be taxis, hawkers etc blocking the area. First the roads around the station should be declared as a no-hawking zone.
Bedi: As of now, we have only thought underground. Nobody is interested in looking at what its impact will be on ground level. We look forward to the Metro because we hope it will ease the vehicular traffic in the area. But having said that, we also would have to be prepared to cater to the people who use the metro. Metro stations around the world have services and shops, laundries, groceries, restaurants available to Metro users.
Q: What can be done to prevent unauthorised hawkers?
Bedi: The area can be hawker-free if we provide them a legitimate spot and confine them into that area. So if you have suddenly somebody sprouting up on the pavements, you know that there’s no way he could have got permission to be there.
Q: Three plots were taken over by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for the Metro construction and other ancillary use. Have you got the plots back?
Dsouza: CPRA can find a sponsor to restore the plots. However, Colaba Woods is occupied by slums dwellers. So, unless we can charge users like at BPT (Garden) it will be a white elephant.Sad. Such a great garden has been wasted.
Plot number 105 which was taken over for Metro construction is meant for parking, but there are encroachments on the plot. There are also fears that the plot will be given to a religious organisation. We want this space to be kept for parking for the residents.
Q: Slums are encroaching more areas.
Nandekar: Illegal reclamation is happening near Machimar Nagar. The authorities are passing the buck as areas on the seashore are controlled by the MMRDA and not the BMC. There are six slums in Cuffe Parade and they are growing.
Q: On the difficulties of keeping the area free from encroachers.
D’Souza: We are doing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s job. They do not respond to our complaints till we speak to the media.
Nandekar: CPRA was formed to protect open spaces. We created and protected the biggest open space in the area – the Bay View Marina which is seven acres, but there is a plot meant for a garden that is being used as a parking lot for school buses.
Photo: Padmakar Nandekar and Laura D’Souza of the Cuffe Parade Residents Association
