Mumbai's Vakola subway turns dark, dirty, and unsafe, say residents

The dimly lit entrance to the subway. PICS/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Residents who reside around the Santacruz East area, over the last two weeks, have noticed several issues with the Western Express Highway's underground pedestrian subway at Vakola Signal, including flickering lights, broken tiles, and uncollected discarded waste items. The locals allege that proactive waste collection has not been taking place, and for the last few days, garbage has been collected and the area cleaned only after calls from residents requesting ward employees directly.

Empty alcohol bottles discarded in the subway with paan-stained walls

Ivan Pais, a resident and a member of St Anthony's Street Welfare Association who is actively communicating with the BMC H East ward about issues in the area, said, "The garbage has been cleaned in the last few weeks only because I have been calling them continuously. The subway is a place which people don't use unless it is completely necessary. Proper maintenance of the subway would also reduce the pedestrian traffic at the signal."

Official Speak

Vaibhav Birari, assistant engineer, SWM
‘We are looking into these issues that the residents have pointed out. Work on fixing the lights in the subway is ongoing, and we are telling clean-up workers to clear out garbage in the subway more often. While regular cleaning cycles are ongoing, we send out a cleaning team every time residents of the area complain about more garbage'

Several tiles in the subway are chipped or broken

Residents Speak

Ivan Pais, resident, St Anthony's Street Welfare Association member
‘Just proper lighting and some CCTV cameras would help a lot. Currently, the entry from the station side is dark, and the entrance is under the staircase of the skywalk, which is often missed by people. A simple signboard would prompt pedestrians to use that as well'

A female resident
‘I don't use the subway while crossing the road to go to the railway station because it looks very scary. There are many drunken people in the evening, which makes my sister and I avoid it more. The lack of CCTV cameras also makes the space more unsafe'