'The Coastal Road is not only about South Mumbai'

The antiCoastal Road clamour just got louder as yet another group of people under the banner Save our Coast Mumbai held a panel discussion mdash The Road Not Taken Mumbais Coastal Road and Responsible Development mdash at Sophia College Convention Centre in Breach Candy on Tuesday eveningCar hourThe fivespeaker panel comprised Bittu Sahgal founder Sanctuary Asia Dr Nikhil Anand anthropology professor University of Pennsylvania Rahul Kadri partner IM Kadri Architects Shweta Wagh founder Collective for Spatial Alternatives and Hussain Indorewala coconvenor Amchi Mumbai Amchi BESTStarting off the discussion Indorewala said All our investments in the past have been geared towards cars The number of private cars in the city doubles every 10 years We keep adapting our infrastructure to suit the number of cars and in the process we change our cityKadri observed We must start defining the problem not as one of traffic but that of transportation When we look through that prism we can see how the footpaths need improvement and we should invest there first We have invested in trains and the Metro The Metro is scalable which means you can add rails to it and to the train as well When you change perspective from traffic to transportation you realise that mass transportation is the only answerGreen sceneDr Anand who said facilities like the Coastal Road are an example of induced demand which means the more road you provide there are more people who will get out and drive It is time we incentivise greener modes of transport he addedWhen you talk of green you cannot get greener than environmentalist Bittu Sahgal who was wearing a blue shirt by the way Sahgal had the audience laughing as he said I come from Kolkata where the favourite phrase is mdash what a nonsense is this He further said When you design a city for cars the collateral damage is air pollution We are selling doomsday In a welldeveloped city the welloff prefer public transport The incentives to build this road is not about solving problems but about filling coffersFish wishShweta Wagh painted a grim picture of ecological imbalances Speaking about the impact on the fishing community Wagh stressed that this was not just a SouthMumbai issue but something that concerns the entire megapolis We are losing our relationship with the sea cautioned Wagh adding Not just South Mumbai but locals everywhere should be worried Juhu should be worried about the possibility of losing a slice of its beach as reclamation causes erosion and beaches will be lost due to this Central Mumbai people should be worried about flooding Fishermen here practise artisanal fishing lowscale traditional subsistence fishing undertaken by individuals compared to largescale commercial fishing The BMC cannot ask them to do deepsea fishing In this way we are infringing on their traditional and customary rightsVoices come togetherAs the panel discussion segued into an interactive session with the audience key takeaways from the spirited meet were mdash Why has this road made toll free What is the agendaThe audience concurred loudly as speakers said the Warden Road intersection was going to see huge traffic jams and the plan was fundamentally flawed as crores would be spent for a twohour traffic jam The audience also asked why citizens do not seem to have a say in projects The meet ended on a rousing note that civil society needs to be more aware and active to raise voices and join in action that will help change the worldCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates