New aesthetic, new jobs for Badhwar Park Koliwada

MUMBAI: In November 2008, a gang of terrorists from Pakistan entered Mumbai and created untold havoc in the city. The entry point through which they slipped in was the Koliwada in Badhwar Park, Colaba.

Fourteen years later, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) A ward, comprising the Colaba, Churchgate and Navy Nagar areas, will kickstart its ambitious beautification project from this very place. Unlike the Worli koliwada, the one in Badhwar Park has remained in the shadows and is more or less unknown to the general public except perhaps for the notoriety it gained because of Ajmal Kasab. The A ward aims to put this Koliwada in the spotlight and convert it into a vibrant urban precinct.

The project’s emphasis will primarily be on encouraging local tourism, generating revenue and celebrating the heritage of the kolis, who are Mumbai’s earliest residents. The BMC is planning several cultural activities to spread awareness of the community’s way of life and set up photo booths where tourists will be encouraged to take pictures of themselves in traditional koli outfits. In an artistic touch, the roofs of the houses are to be painted in a uniform colour to make for a stunning roofscape for the eyes of air travellers and residents of the surrounding highrises.

In an innovative re-use of defunct fishing boats, the BMC plans to transform these into kiosks to sell koli food. “Before we begin on the beautification, we plan to have a koli festival to promote traditional koli food,” Sangita Hasnale, deputy municipal commissioner, Zone 1, told HT. “We will involve college students in cleaning the shanties in the village and transform dull wall spaces into a vibrant and colourful neighbourhood.”

There are also ambitious plans for the sea front. Hasnale revealed that the koliwada would be fitted with a pathway and a ramp with seating arrangements near the sea. “The tetrapods in the sea will be illuminated and there will be a digital entry gate where Badhwar Park begins,” she said. To encourage eco-friendly modes of travel as well as earn revenue for the precinct, the BMC is planning to install EV charging stations. It has already floated a ₹50 lakh tender for this project.

The BMC project will also look at whether the houses of kolis can be adapted into home stays to promote local tourism as well as create additional earning opportunities for them. Other new livelihoods sought to be established for the community are boat-building, aquaphonic farming and fish net-weaving, skills that will be taught to them by experts and institutes. This project will take six months to complete and the cost will be incurred by the BMC along with CSR funds.

Hasnale said there were also plans afoot to beautify the three entry points to South Mumbai— the ending point of the eastern freeway, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road in Byculla and the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli sea link. Additionally, the footpath of P D’Mello Road leading from the eastern freeway to the Gateway of India will be stampconcretised and lit up. “This is our way of welcoming everyone to South Mumbai,” said Hasnale.

HT PHOTO BMC A ward will kickstart its ambitious beautification project from Badhwar Park Koliwada