Mumbai: Has the sleeping Siri Road dragon awakened again?

Five years ago there was a proposed project to allow carsvehicles on Siri Road to enable people to go up to Malabar Hill from Chowpatty by car cutting a lot of time on the regular commuting route This was met with fierce opposition by localsThe backgroundSiri Road or Chiranjilal Loyalka Marg is a walkway Activists at that time had fiercely opposed turning it into a motorable road Of prime concern was the number of old life giving trees that would face the axe if this walkway became a motorway Reports had put the count at more than 100 treesLocals have reported seeing teams from different civic departments at Siri Road for the past few days taking pictures and they claim mapping the area File PicsSwarali PurohitAt that time the BJPs Mangal Prabhat Lodha was at the forefront pushing for the proposal Then in December 2015 activists rejoiced as the proposal to allow vehicles was shot down in the BMC Even at that time though P Gangadhar who was chairman BMC Improvement Committee had told this paper It takes 15 hours to get up to Malabar Hill because of the traffic near Teen Batti This proposed road will cut time to three minutes from Babulnath to Malabar Hill We will bring up the proposal againFears growThat time may have just come fear locas who have reported seeing BMC teams at Siri Road for the past few dys taking pictures and they claim mapping the area The residents are extremely wary even in the midst of denials stoic silence and deflection Lodha when asked if as the buzz goes he brought up this proposal in some BMC meeting recently said Ask the BMC they will give you the correct pictureDenials silenceThe picture seems to be on pause with the BMC till now The civic authorities are tightlipped though sources did admit some feasibility study was done and there has been a meeting with reference to this proposal An official said We do not have any plans to revive the proposal as of now Politically there may be a demand I am unable to comment as of now but there are no plansAn official from the Garden Dept of D ward was categorical that the Siri Road walkway to a motorable road proposal was not on the table The Siri Road with its trees is one of the green lungs of South Mumbai he saidThe buzzLocals though do not believe those saying there is no such move or at least prefer to look at what they think are red flags Sanjay Shirke activist who was a very vocal support for those opposed to the project five years ago said We will oppose it tooth and nail Prakash Munshi Malabar Hill resident who is also against the project because it will entail a significant loss of greenery has emailed a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray It says There is a movement to permit car movement on Siri Road Malabar Hill Please intervene and make an announcement that this will never happen D Ward has announced this move by visiting Siri Road It seems a BJP MLA is behind this move This will be an environmental disaster if it happens Please nip it in the budMunshi seemed disbelieving of the denials by authorities and added In any case I have sent this letter as preemptive actionMunicipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal did not respond to requests for commentKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news