Mumbai: After a decade in the dark, Worli’s DP Road finally gets street lights

Street lights finally illuminate the DP Road at Pandurang Budhkar Marg in Worli, ending nearly a decade of darkness. Pic/By Special Arrangement

A decade of darkness has been dispelled, bringing light literally to the road and lighting up lives, too. On February 19, this year, mid-day reported how residents on the crowded DP Road at Pandurang Budhkar (PB) Marg Worli had been living in the dark (literally) for nearly a decade. There were no street lights on the mammoth DP Road leading from Century Mills towards Doordarshan and Glaxo, and finally the Annie Besant Road, with residents helpless after numerous appeals went unheeded.

The dark Worli stretch, with no street lights. File pic/Shadab Khan

These distressed people mainly resided at the Mahalaxmi Housing Society in the area. Eight months after that mid-day report, the residents have got their lights. When this paper was reporting on no street lights, residents had spoken out about their distressing circumstances, stretching for 10 years.

Santosh Gupta, a Mahalaxmi Housing Society resident since 2014, had said, "We have been waiting for 10 years for streetlights, which is quite unbelievable and unacceptable. This is one housing society which has seven buildings, with a cumulative 1800 persons living here. We negotiate this stretch late evenings, using torchlight or a mobile phone torch. There are also a huge number of bikes on this road, and people are finding it very difficult to walk. It is also challenging for bikers, but mainly for pedestrians who may have to juggle a torchlight or mobile light along with bags they may be carrying. We have approached so many people for this, we do not know where to go."

The dark and unsafe stretch of Pandurang Budhkar Marg in Worli, photographed before the installation of street lights. File pic/Shadab Khan

Resident Rahul Mahadev Devkate had expressed concern about senior citizens and children, especially, highlighting the dangers of negotiating dense traffic.

Residents had pointed to the upscale towers now dotting the area, stating that there are streetlights near these new buildings, but they are always told that they will get lights later. They were bitter about the inequality. Today, that bitterness has vanished, and there is joy.

No more torchlights needed as newly installed street lamps light up the Pandurang Budhkar Marg stretch. Pic/By Special Arrangement

Gupta, along with other locals, said, "There are 17 street lights on our stretch now. Everybody is elated. We are going to celebrate extra hard this Christmas and the New Year. The sentiment over here is: great, zabardast!"