Let's get the show on the coastal road, say Breach Candy locals

If its Breach Candy it must be the coastal road It was a thunderous Thursday evening as locals a majority from Breach Candy but several from Haji Ali Warden Road and Nepean Sea Road convened at Vaibhav building garden for a meeting The hot button issue has divided the area with one group called the Breach Candy Welfare Group protesting against the large number of trees to be cut at Tata Garden for the projectThe Welfare Group also wants the Breach Candy interchange to be shifted to Scandal Point next to the garden to save a portion of the garden from being sacrificed This Thursday meeting though was more about support for the Coastal Road and development We wanted a better understanding of the project said Breach Candy chartered accountant CA Dr Mitil Chokshi one of the organisers of the eventM Chokshi and R Jagtiani make a pointSpace aceSeveral residents first went to the terrace of Vaibhav building where Executive Engineer Coastal Road Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC Shrikrishna Satpute showed the layout of the coastal roadOnce back in the garden the meeting began with Chokshi Bipin Vora from Vaibhav and local Ravi Jagtiani saying communication is essential and we have called this meeting so that a lot of misinformation is dispelled We are for development but with certain conditionsSatpute began outlining several positives of the project This area is going to have a 28hectare garden we are going to have an underground car parking too and at least 45 per cent of the Tata Garden is going to be affectedTo a question about why reclaim land instead of making a Sea Link Satpute answered We are doing this to create more open spaces The discussion was freewheeling with another local shouting that open space has been misused by the BMC in the past and now you say you are creating open spacesThe locals at Vaibhav building Breach Candy PicsSuresh KarkeraConsultant changeAfter this there was much back n forth between environmental activist Zoru Bhathena and the BMC officials about the propensity of the road to flood with BMC denying that the coastal road would aggravate the flooding situationCoastal road Chief Engineer M Machiwal then took up the explanation when several residents asked him about the traffic surge because of the interchange at Breach Candy Machiwal insisted Another entryexit point is not possible at Nepean Sea Road we have done our studies it cannot be madeThings got heated when Machiwal started showing a slide on how traffic would move on the road A resident asked him seeing the sparse number of cars on the slide who has made this slide When Machiwal answered the BMC consultant a resident said with all due respect you need to change your consultant Locals shouted this is not reality Please come and drive down this stretch from 11 am to 1230 pm and see for yourself how much traffic there isMood changeAnother point was raised about the BMC not inviting suggestionobjections from the locals but Machiwal said We did have 3000 plus suggestions on our website We are also not acquiring private propertyChokshi had to intervene to restore calm as questions flew The mood soon turned slightly conciliatory though with some residents urging those angry to at least listen to what the BMC has to say The slideshow then started as people wanted to understand exactly the route of the road A 45minute meet had stretched to two hours In the end it was evident that the BMC had stood its ground and won over some hearts at least with Machiwal urging people not to look at the coastal road with so much negativityTop three concernsTraffic bottleneck at Breach CandyBMC says Studies have been done keeping in mind the current width of the road There are other entryexit points including one at Haji AliLoss of treesBMC says We will lose trees but the exact number has still to be determined They will be replanted in the garden behind In fact there will be more green space than what will be taken awayInterchange shiftBMC says This is not possible Because of the loop that the road will entail more trees will be chopped at the other garden if we shift the interchange This is our contention in court tooCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates