July 14th 2023.
The tragic drowning of a 27-year-old woman near Bandra Fort has caused alarm amongst the authorities. In response, the BMC has closed the gate of its adjoining garden and requested the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) to barricade a part of the promenade at the Bandstand. Furthermore, the Mumbai police have also been asked to increase patrolling to prevent such fatal accidents in the future.
The incident occurred on July 9 when Jyoti Sonar and her husband were sitting on a rock in the sea. Following this, a meeting was held with MMB, the Indian Coast Guard, and Mumbai police officials. The MMB is responsible for providing infrastructure like railings and barricades, while the police are tasked with patrolling the area.
A senior civic official commented, “We have requested the MMB to install a railing or barricade the part of the promenade to stop people from entering deep into the sea. Furthermore, we have also restricted entry from Fort Garden, which is currently going through beautification work. We are expecting more than 1,000 visitors once the garden is ready, which makes it even more important to control the crowd. Hence, we have requested the Mumbai police to increase manpower and patrolling in the area."
MMB Chief Executive Officer Dr Manik Gursal stated, “We have previously installed railings in the area on the request of local slums. Our officials were present at the meeting with civic officials and we are currently working on the cost of the barricading work. We will assess if we can carry out the work under the District Planning and Development Council once we know the exact expenditure.”
The official further added, “The Bandstand and the Bandra Fort areas get crowded on weekends. It is not unusual to see around 500-700 people, mainly youngsters and college students, going deep in the sea to take selfies. The rocks in the sea are small and get slippery during the monsoon, making it even more hazardous. As a result, we will be setting up big warning signs in the bandstand area.”
[This article has been trending online recently and has been generated with AI. Your feed is customized.]
