Tasks for new Kurla, Kalina MLAs to take up
These are the problems faced by residents of Kurla and Kalina constituencies on account of the highhanded decisions of authorities, but neither did any election candidate raise these issues in their spare time nor did they promise to take up these issues upon being elected.
The issues are: Reliance Energy has a bill collection centre , a three-storeyed building in Kurla (W), next to Bhabha Hospital, where earlier, duplicate bills were issued to customers who had missed receiving their bills for any reason whatsoever. But for the last one year or so, this service has been discontinued. Instead, customers have been directed to approach their Chembur Tilak Nagar office for this purpose, which is time-consuming and inconvenient. Another alternative offered is for customers to call the helpline, so duplicate bills could be couriered to the address mentioned on the bill. But this facility is of no use to people who are away at work when the courier arrives or happen to be out at that time. Why can’t this service be resumed at Kurla, like before? And if not people’s representatives, then who will take up this issue with the company?
Recently, there was news that CR had opened a long distance reservation ticket window at Kurla (E) but that has proved a non-starter from Day 1. Whatever may be the reason for its non-functioning, ultimately it is the people who suffer and have to go all the way to Tilak Nagar or Chembur if they wish to make reservations.
Some years ago, Kurla Bhabha Hospital had set up a day and night casualty centre with a blood bank. In due course, both services disappeared. Now, the critically injured are referred to the Sion Lokmanya Tilak Hospital, which is a big risk in view of the heavy traffic on the way. This casualty facility was also important as Kurla Station has the record number of railway accidents in Mumbai, with at least one accident happening every day. Because of the absence of this casualty ward at Kurtla Bhahba, CR must place an ambulance at Kurla (E), so that victims could be carried to Rajawadi Hospital via Eastern Highway, which is easier to reach than Sion’s Lokmanya Tilak Hospital.
Jitendra Gupta
You call this progress?
Almost every political party leader in Maharashtra is making tall claims for progress in Mumbai, but we are still far behind compared to major cities like New York, Singapore , London and Hong Kong.
Mumbai has more than 50 per cent of its population living in slums and that number is growing day by day! Our transport system has failed to serve the people!
Japan’s bullet trains have completed 50 years of operation, and here, we are still talking about it. Forget bullet trains, not a single measure has been put in place to reduce overcrowding in local trains. That gap trap between the train’s foot board and the platform problem is nowhere near being resolved. There aren’t proper seats on the platforms, nor are there decent toilet facilities. So India is far from shining.
K V Satyamurty, Juhu, Mumbai.
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