Clear citizen welfare projects on a war footing

Pic/By Special Arrangement

It has been a waiting game for Santacruz residents, and the clock is ticking. Months after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) floated a tender to install a roof over the eastern stretch of the Santacruz skywalk, residents are still waiting to see work begin. Our report says the civic body says the design is ready, but the project is awaiting approvals.

No cover means pedestrians who are suffering from a heatwave, and those who did not want to get wet, from a delayed monsoon, used traffic-dense roads instead of the safer skywalk.

A roof covering a skywalk stretch is not an extra amenity. It is part of the facility as a whole; this is not a bits-and-pieces kind of puzzle.

A roof is needed as a shield. We also need to turn the corner on works; they should be expedited, and residents/locals/users cannot be expected to pursue till energy stores are depleted to near empty. Enormous time is spent on something that should have existed, or a litany of excuses is reeled out, or hands are truly tied as a fierce game of ping-pong is on fire approvals from different departments. There is a strong case for slicing through red tape that has, not in this context alone, brought people to the end of their tether and driven them to absolute despair.

There is much said about ease of business and single-window clearance for different ventures. Can we have quick clearance for citizen welfare projects too? Similar with much-needed repairs. The same with permissions. Let us work towards a straight, quick system, rather than a vertigo-inducing merry-go-round, where waiting is the name of the game.