As corporator, MNS leader Mangesh Sangle started an ICU at a hospital in Vikhroli and it stood him in good stead during the Assembly polls. Sangle himself admits it helped set up, to an extent, his victory from Vikhroli. For, introducing the ICU had given him access to people not only from his ward Kannamwar Nagar, but also from neighbouring areas.

The MLA does not want to rest on his laurels and now plans to start a superspecialty hospital in the fast-growing suburb, though does not want to reveal much of the project. “During my tenure as corporator, I started an ICU in a civic peripheral hospital in Vikhroli. Now, I plan to build a superspecialty hospital,” says Sangle.

He is reluctant to give details like the budget and place where the hospital will come up. “I have drawn my plans. If I reveal them now, my opponents would create obstacles.”

The only government hospitals here are the ill-equipped BMC Hospital at Mulund and Rajawadi Hospital at Ghatkopar.  

Sangle got a handsome margin of 23,000 in Vikhroli, a Shiv Sena bastion. The constituency also covers the eastern sides of Bhandup and Kanjurmarg. The MNS bagged not only Vikhroli but also the adjacent Ghatkopar (West) and Bhandup.

One of the reasons the party fared well here is believed to be its stand on the Kanjur dumping ground. “The dumping ground will affect people’s health. Our opposition to it is firm,” Sangle says.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) plans to develop landfill sites outside Mumbai scientifically for municipal corporations and councils (other than Mumbai) but has been facing stiff resistance from villagers. “The BMC can have the dumping ground anywhere outside the city, but not in my area or Mumbai. They can do it at a site with a lower population density,” says Sangle.

... contd.