Allow devotees to use Mahalaxmi Temple walkway

PIc/Shadab Khan

A pedestrian walkway built in 2023 with public funds to ease access to Mumbai's Mahalaxmi Temple remains unused more than two years after its inauguration. This temple, tucked away behind Bhulabhai Desai Road, has a narrow lane that serves as the entry/exit points for thousands of devotees who visit it for daily darshan. The alternative path has not achieved its objectives of crowd management or regulation. Authorities have not shifted the devotees and opened up the new pathway as access to the temple.

That was the purpose it was made for, but strangely, after two years, those crores made with taxpayers' money seem to have gone down the drain, with the walkway not allowing devotees. This also means that a nightmare scenario continues for residents living on the side of the lane used by devotees. The access road to their homes is choked by devotees, mounds of footwear that are piled Everest high at times just outside their building gates.

It is not just the inconvenience that is the point. They live on the edge, as emergency services like the fire brigade and ambulances will be unable to enter that lane. We already have examples of residents forced to bring sick persons out themselves from the lane with the ambulance waiting a
distance away.

It is frustrating and stupefying that a road meant for devotees is not being used because those in charge refuse to make that shift. There is also little regard for human life as residents continue suffering as crowds grow every year. Crores for a devotee pathway with no footfall, thanks to leaders who simply do not want to shift.