Making the Streets Scrap Free

Earlier this year, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that the country would soon come out with a policy to scrap vehicles that are more then 15-year-old. While the policy aims at curbing rising vehicular population, cars lying on the roads covered in dust remain like that forever with no takers.

Around 150 residents of Thakur Village in Kandivali have taken it upon themselves to find a solution to these abandoned cars. Under their social initiative group Soch Sayani, they have started a campaign called ‘Operation Khatara’ to remove these abandoned cars from the streets.

A resident and member of Soch Sayani, Hema Rao informs that there are a minimum of two scrap vehicles on each street.

“There is a scarcity of parking space. And these abandoned vehicles are lying in bad condition covered in dust. Nothing has been done to remove them and make space. These unused cars and two-wheelers are also disturbing traffic,” rues Hema.

To create a log of these scrap cars the members of Soch Sayani created a Google form and circulated it among residents and members. For whoever comes across a scrap car they can upload five pictures of the abandoned car along with their details.

Abandoned cars parked in Thakur Village

“In just 25 days, we have documented more than 45 scrapped cars. Some of them have numbers and some are parked with no details,” informs Hema.

While parking and disturbed traffic are few of the many problems, what bothers the residents is the approaching monsoons. “Some vehicles are lying with broken windows and since monsoon is drawing closer, these cars will be a perfect place for mosquitoes to breed and this will bring seasonal infections,” says Hema.

Upset over the issue being overlooked by people and the administration for years, the members will be submitting their detailed report to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Regional Transport Office (RTO).

“We will be submitting the ready catalogue to the BMC and RTO and they will be taking the necessary action. The RTO will be sending a notice to the vehicle owners and if no one gets back in 15 days, they will toe the vehicle,” says Hema.

This is not a selfish initiative but the members of Soch Sayani aim to help other societies as well. “We will be sharing the Google form with other areas, and appeal to people to use it,” she smiles.

For resident Darshana Jadhav this initiative is an add-on to make Thakur Village even more beautiful. “I have been living here for almost 12 years and this place has grown so beautifully. I appreciate this action. This way the area will be more fun to live in and at least we will have more parking space at the market side,” says the 44-year-old.  

However, this is not the first initiative by Soch Sayani. In their previous initiative, the team got the BMC to close open drains in the area. “We highlighted the open drains in the area with paint and that made BMC take immediate action by closing all the drains,” she smiles. In another ongoing initiative ‘Colour My Township’ the residents are painting a 29-blocked challenger wall near Thakur Cinema along with 29 artists and volunteers.

“There are more than 200 people participating in the event. It is an initiative to beautify the area and for that this wall is the best option,” concludes Hema.