mumbai: one of the most keenly fought contests in the city will be in sion where two-time congress winner upendra doshi is pitted against his arch rival, babubhai bhawanji, of the bjp.in this better-off ward (no. 47), sweeping across flood-prone gandhi market to gujarati-centric jain society to sindhi colony and beyond to cine planet, garbage is a big issue.
probably signalling an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, even the campaign offices of mr doshi and mr bhawanji face each other.``mr bhawanji will be difficult to defeat,'' claims local bjp mla chandrakanta goyal. mr doshi, whose wife, rekha doshi, is the sitting corporator from the area (she was fielded by her husband in the 1997 polls since the seat was reserved for women), cites as her biggest achievement the ``absence'' of hawkers in the residential areas and the rs 12-crore civic project to cut down waterlogging in gandhi market. ``after this work is through next year, all rainwater will clear off in 15 minutes,'' mr doshi claims.by design or concidence, the promises made by both contestants are identical. mr doshi says he would like to put in place a signal at gandhi market which witnesses about one accident every month. he wishes to shift the hawkers parked outside sion hospital to inside the hospital premises since they cater to the needs of the patients' relatives.ditto mr bhawanji. mr bhawanji, who was earlier a congress corporator from dadar hindu colony area, also plans to repair pavements and resolve the garbage problem to rid the locality of the mosquito menace. the ncp candidate here is jaywant keni.wards number 42 to 48 mainly comprise lower middle class localities covering antop hill, pratiksha nagar, raoli hills, the cgs colony, korba mithagar, and chandani slums. the large sangam nagar slums, comprising about 37 slum pockets, is scattered over four wards -42, 43, 44, and 45. ward 43 is entirely a slum ward in wadala east covering deenbandhu nagar, azad nagar, etc. on the way to the imax theatre.water, stormwater drains and sanitation are serious issues in most of these wards. realignment of wards has changed their complexion. now, a slice of ward number 44 with its huge chunk of 52,000 voters has been tucked into ward 41. ward 42 which had only 15,000 voters now has a respectable electoral college of 25,000 voters.but this has caused some frayed nerves. like mr niyaz ahmed wanu, who has been a corporator from ward 44 for 19 years, first on a congress ticket and the last time as an independent. this time, he is being fielded by the ncp. ``all the areas like sheikh misry dargah where i slogged are now in a different ward whereas i am left with portions that are completely untouched by development,'' he says. he is now left with 50 per cent slums and sector 7 of the cgs colony. north indians, dalits and muslims are still a sizeable number here.``i have got a rs 6-crore school approved. also, i plan a pumping station to prevent waterlogging since the slums are placed at creek level,'' says mr ahmed. he faces neelagita vithal (congress) and dattaram shinde (shiv sena).water is a sore issue in ward 42, especially in bpt colony and korba salt pans. says first-time contestant, sharad gaonkar of the shiv sena, ``my party has done a lot of work here. since the mla and mp too are from the sena-bjp alliance, we have managed to improve the living conditions here.''though the shiv sena had won from here the last time, it may face a stiff challenge as various rpi factions are also in the fray along with several rebel candidates. apart from ncp's uttam gaikwad and jyoti jadhav (congress), there are 12 other candidates in the fray, including sachin mohite, manoj sansare, and chandrakant kadam.parts of ward 43 (about 7,500 voters) and ward 40 (about 3,500 voters) have been merged with this ward, which could skew poll equations here. though the other two wards were also with the sena, the party's worry is that many non-sena votes, including muslims and dalits, have been transferred here.cutting an arch across aurora cinema and telang road to wadala east is ward number 41, reserved for women. the congress' sitting candidate rajul chheda, who joined ncp, is out of the race. odette barretto (congress) believes she has an edge because of the work done by her social worker husband herbert barretto and the fact that the other contenders - pratibha malvi (bjp), jacinta santoshkumar (sp) and vijayalaxmi pillai (ncp) - live outside the ward.the voter profile boasts of about 14,000 muslims, and a sizeable number of gujaratis and catholics. open sewers in bengalipura and other slums are a poll issue, as is the issue of a foot overbridge connecting wadala east and west. ``many schoolchildren have to cross the railway tracks daily since most schools are in the west,'' observes a resident.veteran corporator rustom tirandaz is fighting this time from ward 43, a slum area. mr tirandaz says,``i'm going to try to implement the slum improvement programme of the bmc - which permits 14-feet high tenements, loft, double brick walls, etc.,'' he says. pitted against mr tirandaz are sena's sitting corporator trishna vishwasrao and shakeel ahmed siddique (congress).in ward 45, the sitting congress corporator ravi raja has been renominated for the third time. dominated by south indians, this ward covers parts of pratiksha nagar, raoli reservoir, and is almost entirely made up of slums except about 10-odd old buildings.mr raja, who has served two terms, plans to solve the drainage problem too which he has been unable to do in his past two terms. rehabilitation of the 600-odd huts to pave the way for the proposed 90-feet road from hemant manjrekar marg to the wadala truck terminal is also on his agenda. he is fighting against old rivals, shashikant sawant (sena) and surendra tripathi of the ncp.given the fairly large concentration of punjabis in the late sohansingh kohli's ward 46, the bjp has fielded first-timer lalit chopra against jasbirsingh maniktala (congress), who won the bypoll three years ago, harbhajan singh zulka of the ncp, and manjit singh sokhi of the janata dal.
