Mumbai: Chheda Nagar residents pay for their own roads

Road repair work being undertaken at Chheda Nagar

Fed up with the BMC's apathy, residents of Chheda Nagar in Chembur decided to take matters into their own hands to fix their terrible internal roads. On Tuesday, work began in sector 6 of the housing colony. The repairs, running into Rs 5.50 lakh, have been fully funded by residents of the housing societies in the area, who have also hired a private road contractor for the work.

The roads in Chheda Nagar connect 110 residential buildings in 62 housing societies. The area houses 7,000 residents. Miffed with the BMC's M-West ward stating that they cannot provide any assistance for the repairs because the land is private and under litigation, the residents have decided to make the repairs happen out of their own pockets. While the funds for the project were collected three weeks ago, the repairs began on Tuesday in Sector 6 after a puja. The local ward office is, however, being helpful by providing paver blocks - which will be used for the repairs - that have been removed by BMC across the city either in road widening or concretisation projects. To transport the blocks, residents have hired private contractors.

Paver blocks from all over city being dumped at Chheda Nagar for the repairs

A resident said, "While most truckloads of used paver blocks that have come in were paid for, an equal number was also supplied for free by the contractors." "We all are taxpaying residents but have to spend from our own pockets to repair the roads that haven't been fixed in years," said Biju Philip, a resident. Philip Thomas, a resident of the area for almost over four decades, claims that the internal roads have never been repaired, "Every time we approach the local ward office, we've been treated as beggars; they don't entertain our complaint by merely stating that 'all of your roads are private roads.' Forget internal roads, we do not even have proper storm water drainage lines, due to which we experience knee-deep water logging every monsoon. We have now decided enough is enough. Despite paying our taxes, we have to beg for our rights, which is unfortunate. So for the first time ever, all residents have come together for this movement."

How it began

The inspiration to procure funds for the repairs came from an initiative started by a few residents of two buildings located close to the local temple, who had collected around Rs 1.60 lakh to get paver blocks to replace their bad roads. "Out of 16 societies, barring two, we have collected approximate Rs 30,000 per society to start the repairs and might contribute a further Rs 10,000 per society to meet our entire road repair costs, which is estimated by the private contractor to Rs 5.50 lakh. A major chunk of this goes only towards labour costs," explained Thomas. Bad roads aren't the only issue. Thomas said, "In Sector 6, we are also facing a problem of encroachment in the backyard of our society, which used to be a mangrove belt. Today, we have illegal slums, due to which the drains are choked. The civic body has not even provided us with basic storm water drains."

A resident points to slum encroachment in Chedda Nagar

Getting used paver blocks

He further stated, "We are getting used paver blocks from BMC, which the contractor will have to segregate to use only the good ones. To dispose all other debris and waste that get generated during the road work, we will have to pay a minimum of R4,000 per dumper. We estimate around 15 to 20 trips by the dumper, which will cost us around R80,000 more. We are also getting few storm water drain pipes laid, so that we can at least get rid of the water logging we experience during monsoon. The work we've taken up is nothing short of a gamble." Asked why they chose to put paver blocks instead of using tar, Thomas said, "Laying a tar road would run into crores. Because of the huge cost, a local politician who'd announced financial support from his budget also backed off. We have been fortunate enough to get these waste paver blocks."

BMC says
Responding to allegations of civic apathy, executive engineer of M-West ward, Sambhaji B Ghag told mid-day, "As per our records, Chheda Nagar's internal roads are private. We are maintaining a few [sector 1, 2, 3 and 4] that have been handed over to BMC, but the remaining roads are still designated as private and we have no role in such roads. They need to be maintained and manned either by the society or the landowner." Ghag said Mumbai has around 86 such privately maintained roads. Asked why the residents have been treated this way, Ghag clarified, "We have been coming across different versions from Chheda Nagar residents. But none of them have been able to produce documents explaining the ownership pattern; some have stated that a litigation is pending in court between the salt commissioner and the land owner. We also have unconfirmed information that part of the land come under the forest department, but unless we have papers in hand, it will be difficult to know the facts."

Speaking about previous efforts to repair the roads, Ghag said, "We had received a proposal from the local MLA a few years ago asking us to improve the roads under section 63 (K) of MMC Act, in which the total expenses for the repairs would be split between the local ward office, residents and the MLA fund. But when we moved the request to the road department, the estimated valuation had run into few crores, and it was not feasible to pump in those many funds only for one area, so the proposal was kept pending." Upon being quizzed about collecting taxes from residents of 'private land', he said, "Property tax is charged for services being provided by the corporation across the city; therefore, it is mandatory for everyone to pay. Since water is being provided by BMC in the area, the same is chargeable as well. We are ready to take all roads under the corporation, provided the societies or federations come up with documents stating the ownership right over the said plot." Ghag said the paver blocks being put in for the current repairs are not a lasting solution, "However, as paver blocks are made from concrete, they should ideally have a lifespan of 20 to 25 years, subject to proper maintenance."

110
No. of residential buildings in Chheda Nagar

7,000
Total no. of residents in Chheda Nagar

Rs 30,000
Money collected from every society

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