Overview
- The city’s two smallest wards pack wholesale and jewelry markets into narrow lanes lined with aging buildings and heavy footfall.
- Residents and activists cite rampant encroachments, unauthorised construction, irregular garbage collection, weak water pressure and shrinking pedestrian space.
- Safety fears persist with recurring monsoon-season collapses and tenants reporting cracked structures awaiting redevelopment.
- With corporator posts vacant for nearly four years, citizens are turning to MLAs to escalate water, waste and traffic complaints.
- Officials and local leaders pitch fixes including an MMRDA tunnel linking the Eastern Freeway to the coastal road, a proposed BMC parking plaza, night-only loading in market hubs and pedestrian-only lanes.