Let’s go Shopping, let’s buy some accessories and clothes, Let’s go to eat at Bandra …But, where at Bandra can you do all this? ‘Hill Road’… the shopping hub of Bandra that provides anything and everything in terms of shopping, is the best place to visit in Bandra when you are out on your quest to buy something.
This bizarre shopping at Hill Road which stretches right from Marks and Spencer till St. Peter’s Church is cluttered with traffic, hawkers, crowd congestion, pedestrians, cars and autorickshaws, no place for parking and moreover, no place to even walk during the peak hours. Do you know why there is so much traffic congestion and chaos of people at Hill Road? And how can it be solved or at least reduced to some extent?
Peera Patel, the manager of Riddhi Jewellery Shop at Hill Road, said, “The traffic is mainly because there is no proper parking at entire Hill Road. People park their vehicles for hours together as they are busy shopping and the cars block the way till then. Some traffic measures and proper parking space will help solve the problem. But, the state of crowding at Hill Road is far better now than previous years.”
Another shopkeeper mentioned, “You can park anywhere at Hill Road at your own risk just be aware of the tow officials.” This practice of parking anywhere at Hill Road leads to a lot of traffic jams as the road is uneven in breadth throughout the stretch and has vehicles moving continuously. To add to the turmoil, Hawkers eat up the space on the road as they need to carry on their business too.
Well, most of you are unaware that there are ‘Pay and Park’ facilities at Reliance, Marks and Spencer and next to Elco restaurant at Hill Road. You can pay a minimal amount, park your vehicles and shop around anywhere at Hill Road. The manager of Reliance Trends said, “We have an underground parking space for almost 30-40 cars and 10-15 bikes. Customers can pay and park and shop at any place at Hill Road. We are trying to avoid congestion as there is a lot of crowd at Hill Road.”
Deepak Bhagnani, the senior personnel at ELCO, said, “We do not have our own parking space at ELCO but we use the space besides ELCO for customers to park around 20 cars and 10 bikes. Sometimes, Hill Road is so crowded that our customers need to park near Almeida Park or near Baba Hospital and then come and eat at our restaurant. Traffic needs to be well maintained. ”Well, apart from the peak shopping hours and weekends, Hill Road seems a bit spacious now as the BMC and Government have taken some measures to clear the hawkers and illegal encroachments by shopkeepers at Hill Road.
Few of the regular hawkers at Hill Road cried out the same plea, “We Hawkers are also doing business. Selling shopping stuff on the road is our only bread and butter for we don’t have the money to buy shops or gallas. The government should understand our state too and provide us with a space or a hawking zone kind of remedy.” And that’s true, for though hawkers create congestion; they are the ones that attract so much of crowd to this exotic area at Bandra. Most of the people buy quirky stuff from these hawkers and come to Hill Road just because of these hawkers and the kind of authentic stuff that they sell at reasonable prices.
A veteran shopkeeper, on behalf of the shopkeepers at Hill Road, explains, “Hawkers do not hamper our business at all. We are veteran shopkeepers and we are law abiding citizens. The BMC or the government should inform us before destroying our encroachments or inadequate use of space and we will definitely cooperate with them. Hill Road is a busy shopping area in a developing nation like India where the population is massive. There will be crowd, there will be congestion but allowing parking space and managing traffic will help reduce chaos.”
The state of Bandra’s most happening area Hill Road is not all that good as there is no specific space for parking for the thousands of customers that flush in each day. Moreover, there is not a single traffic policeman to manage the traffic and help in terms of a traffic jam. The population of both- people and cars- is increasing, and with that the purchasing power is increasing too.
A policeman who has successfully helped improve the conditions at Hill Road exclaimed, “One ways are treated as two ways at Hill Road. The dividers are broken at places so people just cross their vehicles anyhow. Customers park and leave their cars anywhere for hours together causing inconvenience to others. There is no Autorickshaw or Taxi stand for commuters. Barricades should be installed so that people can’t park anywhere while, there should be no gaps in the divider; those who want to turn should take an entire U-turn so that mid way accidents are avoided. Hawkers and Shopkeepers should be allowed to do their business but not encroach the main road and create inconvenience. Most importantly, individual should think for himself about others. He/She should always ask themselves- Am I causing inconvenience to others? Only then things will improve and change for good at Hill Road.”
A lot of shopping, a lot of food, too many cars with too many people and a lot of traffic is what can be seen at Hill Road. If only we think at the individual level and act wisely then all this might reduce. Let the government and officials do what they can, till then we as citizens of Bandra and India largely, let’s strive to make Hill Road a more spacious and better place where one can breathe, walk and shop freely!
Ronald Rodrigues
