May 11: A tete-a-tete with the law keepers is not anyone's idea of enjoying a better part of their Sunday.

Yet, a group of over 500 residents of Sion and Matunga suburbs pushed away the langour, braved the summer heat and assembled at Guru Nanak High School Hall early morning to press for solutions to their everyday traffic, law and order problems.

There were no morchas with slogans and placards, but what followed was an orderly meeting with police authorities to discuss what seemed to be mundane problems. More surprisingly, senior traffic and police inspectors from Sion police station gave a patient hearing as people reeled out their requests and complaints for well over two hours. The meet, organised by local municipal corporator Rekha Upendra Doshi, proved that collective voice is definitely heard. Now, children on their way to school need no longer be scared while crossing the signal at Sion Hospital. The dangerous spot, which witnesses one of the heaviest traffic flow in the early hours, will now have a constable posted from 6.30 a m. Subhash Chutke, senior traffic inspector, gave this quick response at housewife Smita Mehta's revelation about ``three schools in the vicinity and speeding vehicles prone to jumping signals.''

While this problem got a quick solution, the alert residents realised that answers for other problems like illegal parking of luxury buses, taxis, hawkers' carts on pavements, safety of pedestrians at Sion junction, reportedly the worst in the country, will need greater perseverance. Senior citizens, who comprised the larger part of the gathering, looked the most worried lot. ``The problem of parked luxury buses is rampant in Sion,'' said J B Shah. ``These buses not only occupy a large part of the roads but the habit of loading and unloading luggage on pavements has inconvenienced the residents,'' he added. A number of spots requiring a signal post figured in the discussions. The most pressing demand was for one at Gandhi market, where the vehicular traffic has made it impossible for safe crossing. Chutke assured that a proposal would be put through to his seniors.

The Sion flyover bridge connecting Everard Nagar, Sion, to Mumbai Port Trust is likely to be thrown open to public from May 17 revealed Chutke. ``The entire heavy vehicular flow will thus be diverted to MPT. This is a step towards making Sion the next Malabar Hill of Mumbai!'' chuckled Chutke.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.