AWard: Abyword for apathy and neglect

Need for concerted effort from local authorities and elected representatives to restore vitality of the ward

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The BMC's A Ward' is where institutions such as Mantralaya, Vidhan Bhavan, Reserve Bank of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange, and iconic monuments like the Gateway of India, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum, CSMT, Churchgate and the civic body's head office itself, are located. It is also the most neglected administrative ward of Mumbai.

As the accompanying photos reveal, rubbish is strewn everywhere, the pavements are in pathetic condition, hundreds of hawkers encroach roads and footpaths with impunity, drains overflow and at night rats scurry out their holes searching for food.

'I find it below my dignity to walk here. Almost all the roads and footpaths are encroached by hawkers and even shopkeepers," says Kunti Oza, chairperson of the Clean Mumbai Foundation.