Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Mayor assures of better Sec 9 Belapur' that was published in Newsband

Mayor assures of better Sec 9 Belapur

By Dinesh Kamath

(Above) Dr. Jayakar Ellis explaining a point to the Mayor as Mr. Sabu Daniel and Ashok Patil listen.

CBD BELAPUR: Surrounded by three hills and a temperature much less than the normal, Sector 9 CBD Belapur has been the best place to live in Navi Mumbai for over three decades. But with the non maintenance, the situation of this once beautiful place has been replaced with severe difficulties for the residents here.

On 3 December 2013, the Mayor was invited to visit Sector 9 and was shocked to see the pathetic condition of the sector. “I will see to it that all the problems of this place will be solved as soon as possible and it will once again regain its past beauty” said Shri Sagar Naik, Mayor, NMMC. Mr. Sabu Daniel, Mr Ashok Patil and Mr. Vinit Palkar were among the team which accompanied the Mayor.

“When I approached the Mayor and poured out our grievances, he immediately assured us of his visit. His visit has given us the assurance of better living conditions,” said Dr. Jayakar Ellis, resident of 25 years and who spearheaded this initiation.  Adding he said, “There are so many things that need immediate attention and there are no proper lighting, no walls around the society which helps robbers to run away on to the highway, no security as there is no Police Chowky as our sector is at the end and is attached to the Nursery where unwanted elements (boys/girls come for past time, young and old come with liquor, etc), roads are in such a horrible condition due to which many have had back problems and vehicles have been damaged, inner roads are bad, there is no proper play ground for children to play thus making them play on the road which is so dangerous, our community hall has been given to private company and thus we don’t have a place for our young and old for recreation. There is a small patch under the high tension wire which can be allocated for the use, gardens are in a very poor condition, Electricity Pillar boxes are in bad shape. There are certain electric cables open dangerously, cable wires are hanging from all side of the houses, construction debris is lying around everywhere”.

“Certain row houses have sewage problems like mine and when complaint is given, the workers charge to do private cleaning,” said Mr. Ahuja, a resident.

“With the Mayor’s visit, we hope things will be better and we can have a safe sector 9,” said Mrs. Fouzya Patankar, another resident.