Malabar Hill citizens have demanded focus on environmental conservation and depoliticisation of the neighbourhood and street animal welfare from the nominated candidates of the constituency.
Friends of Malabar Hill, a citizens’ group working for the welfare of Malabar Hill locality, released its citizens manifesto on Sunday for the nominated candidates of the constituency. Apart from the demands like accessibility and participatory approach, road infrastructure, public transport, rehabilitation of slums and senior citizen welfare, the manifesto has also focused on issues like the elected representative’s ethics in public life, environmental conservation, depoliticisation of the neighbourhood, heritage conservation and street animal welfare.
The manifesto said that it expects their candidate to be conscious and well-informed about environmental protection and environmental risks. It demanded that their representative should make every effort to conserve the open spaces, wooded areas and green cover of Malabar Hill. It also demanded a geo-technical survey to ascertain the stability and carrying capacity of Malabar Hill and a census of trees on all private plots.
Apart from prioritising the redevelopment of old and dilapidated buildings, the manifesto also demanded that the existing civic infrastructure should be strengthened before initiating more construction activity on the hill. It added that their civic infrastructure is not equipped for high-rise development and therefore height restrictions should be enforced to ensure the stability of the hill. It also demanded that CRZ violations must be strictly dealt with and the defaulters should be booked.
The manifesto has came out strongly in opposition of political hoardings in the locality. It has warned the political parties to abide by this rule or else the citizens will pull down the hoardings. Through the manifesto, the citizens have also protested against the VIP culture in the locality where roads are blocked for ministerial movements. It demanded that the citizens should not face any inconvenience due to political activities and the number of vehicles in motorcades should be decreased to prevent adding to environmental pollution.
The residents have demanded that their elected representative should put public good before personal agendas and self interests. It also demanded accessibility from their representative as well as a participatory and helpful approach towards all residents, keeping aside communal agendas.
Due to lack of corporators, the citizens have demanded their future legislator to look after civic issues like hygiene and sanitation, implementation of solid waste management rules, water and power, promotion of minimizing the use of single-use plastic and deploying clean-up marshals. It also demanded strengthening road infrastructure and parking management. The manifesto also demanded increase in public transport system by increasing train and BEST bus services for women.
The residents have demanded the representative’s support for the heritage conservation of Malabar Hill including Banganga. It has also focused on street animals’ welfare by ensuring effective community and civic mechanisms for the health and safety of the animals.
“In the absence of a robust system of checks and balances, civic governance, for a very long time, has been severely compromised. The elected candidate is expected to be committed to public good, rather than their own. They should have a participatory approach, and respect the fact, that the voices of the residents matter, and must be valued and heeded,” read the manifesto.
