Senior citizens get new community centre at Nerul PWP protests delay in highway project

Just five days after a large portion of a footpath at sector 14 in Vashi caved, a similar incident occurred on the footpath right opposite it on Wednesday. The footpath on the opposite side of the road caved in, this time a much larger section being affected. No one was injured.

The senior citizens of Nerul now have new community centre for spending some quality time with people of their ages every evening.

Adhata Trust, a nongovernmental organization opened this center at SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce on Monday. In view of the necessity of the recreational places for senior citizens, college authorities have given them a few rooms at their premises.

“We think, the retirement can offer senior citizens a renewed sense of self and a new lease of life. It is a time which affords the opportunity to take up interests and activities that one might not have been able to pursue earlier. Therefore, we have taken this effort to enrich the lives of the elderly people,” said Arun Nanda, founder of Adhata Trust.

The trust has many other community centers in Mumbai which are located at places like Sion, Andheri, Saki Naka, Matunga and TISS Mumbai.

Koyel Roychoudhury, the principal of the college said, “Senior citizens can come here and get engaged in various activities every day. We will organise cultural programmes for them wherein our students will also get involved. The elderly people will have a nice break from their usual monotony through this.”

The inaugural event at Nerul witnessed dance and theatre performances by Adhata members.

The Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) organized a massive human chain morcha on Mumbai-Goa highway earlier this week to protest against the delay in the road expansion work.

The Mumbai-Goa highway work has been progressing at a snail’s pace for the past seven years. There have been a number of accidents in the 140 km stretch of Panvel to Indapur for the year. The pending road works are resulting in a number of problems in Raigad district. People dying in road accidents, regular traffic snarls, pothole filled roads have been a nightmare for motorists.

There have been several protests in the past by political parties and also the media which has demanded reasons for the delay from the government. Nothing seems to have worked, however, with the work continuing at snail pace.

It was to protest this delay that the PWP organized protest on the highway by forming a human chains. The central public works department minister had assured that the work will be completed in a year’s time, however, even after two years, there is no sign of the completion.

The PWP’s main demand is speeding up work on the Panvel to Indapur stretch and its early completion and the expansion of the highway to be expedited.

Human chains were formed at Palape, Wadkhal Naka, Kolad and Indapur with the protesters distributing leaflets to the motorists. Mumbai-Goa highway has become accident-prone. (Right) The protest by PWP workers.

The protest was launched by former MLA Vivek Patil, PWP Raigad district secretary Balaram Patil and other top PWP leaders and NGOs.

Vivek Patil said, “The citizens and motorists have been facing a number of problems on the highway and so we decided on the human chain protest against the inactive government.”

He alleged, “The central minister’s assurances have turned out to be hollow. The guardian minister too had stated last Ganeshotsav that the road will be ready by Ganeshotsav. That too is not going to happen.”

BACHCHAN KUMAR