Mumbai: Bandra residents flag wrong-side driving, poor footpaths ahead of Mount Mary Fair

Bandrarsquos growing cafe culture has brought more visitors to the neighbourhood but residents say traffic violations and poor pedestrian infrastructure are making the area increasingly difficult to navigate With the Mount Mary Fair set to begin locals fear the situation could worsenResidents say twowheeler riders particularly delivery personnel frequently drive on the wrong side of the road or take shortcuts while limited deployment of Mumbai Traffic Police personnel has allowed violations to continueFootpath woesThe resident also pointed to the stretch of Dr Ambedkar Road between the Irish House on Pali Hill and the Turner Road junction ldquoThere is no usable footpath We have to walk on the road while vehicles are parked on the side forcing us to walk alongside the traffic This has been the situation for many months and no BMC action has been takenrdquo he saidA biker rides on the wrong side of the narrow Chapel Road in Bandra WestDuring a visit to the spot on Friday this reporter wencroaching on the footpath leaving little or no space for pedestrians In some places only a narrow two to threefootwide passage was available between parked vehicles and building wallsBMC speaksDeepak Gholam Assistant Engineer of H West wardlsquoWe have sent notices to multiple parties regarding the missing footpath and action will soon be taken against structures encroaching on the footpath We understand how important it is for pedestrians and are working on it as quickly as possiblersquoThe correct flow of trafficTraffic police speaksDipali dhate Deputy Commissioner of Police Traffic Central ZonelsquoOver the last two months we have increased the number of personnel manning Bandra Recently citizens approached me with similar complaints and keeping that in mind I have personally started taking updates from officers in the area Our main concern is wrongside driving by delivery riders We are issuing fines and in some cases seizing vehicles Our goal is to help Bandra residents in every way possible on this issuersquoThe Dr Ambedkar Road stretch that lacks a footpath PicsShadab KhanLocals speakDevika Nihalani a residentlsquoIn recent years driving in this area has become very tough There are multiple twowheeler and autorickshaw drivers who drive rashly which almost leads to accidents Due to this I have personally stopped driving But even when I get my driver to take me places there have been situations where although the twowheeler auto or sometimes car driver was at fault we have had to apologise because we did not want to get into fights I have a friend who fractured a rib after falling into an open drain in our area The footpaths are not in the best shape On top of that there are food vendors selling food while animal faeces can sometimes be found just a few steps away Bandra is a premium neighbourhood to live in but when we get onto the roads here we see that the infrastructure is failing and people have lost traffic etiquettersquoA local restaurant owner and longtime residentlsquoAlmost every turn near Chapel Road or Turner Road we see people driving in the wrong direction or jumping signals I have seen twowheelers cut in front of cars which could lead to serious accidents but there seems to be no action against such drivers There are traffic police officers at these spots many times especially near Chapel Road and Dr Ambedkar Road but they are not there all the time and riders take advantage of that I am scared to walk on these roads now The other day my wife had to move out of the way because a biker was driving too close to the footpath We really need the traffic police to take strict action and issue fines in this area or soon we could see an accidentrsquo