Worli Dairy vs Venus residents in cesspool tiff; row escalates as Mumbai Marathon approaches

The debris which has collected at Worli Dairy PicsBipin KokateThe Venus Housing Society a clutch of seven high rise towers and three lsquochota Venusrsquo structures which are ground plus three structures is embroiled in a row with neighbour Worli Dairy over a rapidly widening cesspool of water muck and debris in the Dairy premisesThe water and overgrown dense foliage at the DairyA lakeswamp it isThe now practically defunct Dairy stands opposite the Worli Seaface promenade Venus buildings are adjacent to the Dairy The Venus residents are livid over a growing pool of water ldquoit resembles a lake nowrdquo says Venus resident Ashit Sheth smiling wryly as he adds ldquosea gulls are flying in from the seaface opposite and coming towards this puddle which has become a lakeswamprdquo in the Dairy premises A mound of debris and overgrown green shrubs are next to this swamp The residents blame the growing mosquitoes in their housing complex on the stagnant dirty water Arun Sehgal chairman Venus says sarcastically ldquothe mosquito has become the national insect of this areardquoThe Worli Dairy messIrked Venus lsquovaasisrsquo stood with resident Sanjiv Punjabi who said ldquoif this is not cleaned up we will stand with posters drawing attention to our plight on the day of the Mumbai marathon Jan 15 on the Worli SeafacerdquoResidents congregate below Venus towers to voice their problemsResidents congregate below Venus towers to voice their problemsThe Mumbai MarathonThe Worli Dairy is a very important dot on the marathon map It is the point from where the halfmarathon 21 km starts It is also a holding arearsquo which means athletes can store their bags in the premises for the halfmarathon run Like the Azad Maidan which is the start point and holding area for the full marathoners 42km the Dairy fulfils the same function for the halfmarathoners Both the full and halfmarathon routes are through the Worli Seaface elite international athletes will also be running across so any kind of statement like holding posters or morchas will mean embarrassment for the authoritiesA resident shows the bite marks on her neck right The residents Arun Sehgal and Ashit ShethUrvashi Vanvaria of Venus said ldquoHousing societies are fined if they do not keep their premises clean What about this government propertyrdquoShailesh Shah old time resident who has written an email dated January 10 on the CM and PMrsquos email address asking for ldquoprompt actionrdquo asked ldquoThe Dairy has asked us to clean this but why should we clean itrdquo Shah too supported the view that residents must stand with banners and during the marathon pointing to the mess Residents said that the government charges a Swachch Bharat Cess but government premises itself are in a pathetic stateThe finger pointingDairy officials though have pointed fingers at Venus itself saying water is coming through the housing complex into the Dairy premises through the drainage pipeFor Vandana Mahnot of the Crsquo block of Venus building ldquothere is not just water but a large amount debris and garbage too Are we responsible for the latter toordquoResidents say the Dairy is going on the attack as a form of defence The point to the overgrown bushes which are straddling the water pool Madhu Agarwal says they have been ldquofacing the problem since one month nowrdquo while Priya Gurnani points out to the cesspool and says ldquoMany of us have been staying in Venus for 40 years and more This is the first time we have seen a problem of this magnituderdquo she signs offA walk into the Worli Dairy showed us that marathon preparations have begun Portable toilets for athletes were already parked at the Dairy quite close to the swamp There was strong stench arising from the water and the debris Yet even as we arrived efforts were on to clean it with a BMC vehicle also on site working at cleaning upWater is from VenusWorli Dairy manager Nitin Badgujar said ldquoThe water is from the drainage pipes of Venus buildings It is seeping into our premises I agree that the debris is our responsibility but we will clean it the water though is coming from Venus Things will be spruced up in a day We do need cooperation though for a permanent solutionrdquoA high ranking Dairy official who spoke on condition of anonymity stated ldquoThere is no use threatening morchas We have to cooperate We have asked the residents to come here and meet us for a solution Why send lettersrdquoThe residents though scoff at claims of cooperation and say these are veiled references to asking them to pay for the clean up With both sides not on the same page with water from Venus and debris from the Dairy the Mumbai Marathon may be only a band aid temporary solution to a festering feudThe Venus buildingsVenus is a complex of towers located in Worli It is just behind some buildings directly facing Worli Seaface and next to the Worli Dairy Venus is divided into towers with towers that have 13plus floors and smaller squat structures known as lsquochota Venusrsquo Venus has seven towers all above 13 floors It has three lsquoChota Venusrsquo buildings which are Ground plus 3 structures