The association members also said the promenade is a part of the core Marine Drive heritage precinct and within the core of the UNESCO Victorian gothic and art décor ensembles of Mumbai, a world heritage site.
“The art deco buildings along the promenade were built by some of the first Indian architects practising in independent India and their design principles for heritage buildings in the immediate surrounding area should be adopted, so that it [principles] honours and does not take away from the overall setting of the precinct. We also hope that there will be no commercial advertising on these facilities as Marine Drive promenade has been kept free of this for decades. We urge BEST to consider the importance of the heritage precinct area while designing any new facilities,” stated the letter sent by Atul Kumar, president of the NPCCA.
Further on they pointed that the new bus stops are significantly larger than the earlier format and the extremely large high-intensity LED advertising disturbs residents and motorists driving towards south on Marine Drive.
BEST officials said they will accord priority to citizen complaints and forward the same to the private contractor who maintains the bus stops. An official from BEST’s traffic wing said, “The undertaking’s civil department will resurvey based on suggestions and objections put forth… It is a fact that Marine Drive is a heritage site and one cannot compromise the integrity and historic significance of the precinct and the World Heritage site,” he said.
BEST recently introduced multi-purpose bus shelters with features like mini book library (at Worli), charging points for mobile phones and laptops, CCTVs and large LED screens besides display of helplines and information on expected time of arrival of next bus.Citizens have, in the past, objected to these new stops being of larger dimensions and occupying more footpath space.
