A seven decade old structure on Bandra's busy Hill Road, which housed the well-known Mamagoto restaurant, was demolished on Friday, August 9, to make way for the road to reclaim its previous width.
According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) records, although Hill Road's official width is 27 metres, the adjacent building had narrowed it to just 13 metres. This led to traffic jams along that section of the road.
Vinayak Vispute, assistant municipal commissioner, stated that there were 12 commercial and 2 residential units in this building, all of which had alternate uses. They received the last notice to vacate the premises on June 15 and the demolition date was set for August 9. The traffic flow on the road will significantly change after the debris is cleared from the area and the road is enlarged.
Those impacted by the demolition, some in Bandra and some in Kandivali, have been rehabilitated, said another civic official.
Traffic congestion in the area had to be eased, for which the authorities knew that they had to extend the road to its full width, stated Ashish Shelar, the Bandra West MLA, regarding the enlargement of Hill Road.
Over the past few years, they have removed bottlenecks at various locations along the route in a very methodical manner. This was one of the final bottlenecks that they were able to remove after the proper procedures, he added.
The head of the Bandra Reclamation Area Volunteers Organisation, resident Vidya Vaidya, praised the BMC effort, noting that everyone that had been affected from this have now been rightfully rehabilitated. Holy Family Hospital, schools, and churches are located in the region, Vaidya said.
She further added that despite a pay-and-park facility along Hill Road, motorists are still parking their vehicles on the road, which further slows down traffic. The congestion caused by this parking situation would frequently slow down traffic.
Another resident and trustee of the non-governmental Mumbai Citizen Forum, Lillian Paes, stated that the area frequently becomes jammed with traffic during rush hour and on the weekends when big crowds assemble to see glimpses of film stars Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan at their residences. This causes cars to crawl. It's good that the authorities have acted to ease traffic chaos, Paes said.
To make Hill Road wider, a well-known florist's part was also destroyed a few years ago.
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