Shazneen Mistry 

www.mediaeyenews.com

Marine Drive, also known as the ‘Queen’s Necklace’ has lost some of  its beauty after the construction work started there few years ago. The Coastal Road  Project — the road by the sea, which will connect Marine drive to Worli Sea Link and then go more further, was started in 2018 and is still an  ongoing process.  This project was being made for easy travel  for people and making  their life easy as well developing better infrastructure, but along the  process in the present time, people’s life hasn’t been improved rather  thing are getting complicated for them. 

The Marine Drive used to be an open space for people to come and  relax by looking at the sea and its surrounding. It was a site that  appealed to many, and people from all around the world would come  to visit it and some would even stay at the hotels opposite the sea to  enjoy the beautiful view. Now this construction site has led to traffic  jams, noise, and air pollution, spoiling the whole area’s calm, beauty  and vibe. 

Marine Drive was used by people for early morning walks and spend time there, children use to run and play games, many  even roller skated and played different games, sadly all of that has  stopped now because of this construction. Huge barriers have been  placed and the roads have been blocked making it difficult for the  people to come out with their families or to just come out to sit and  feel the cooling sea breeze. 

This construction had caused great problems to the Parsi community as well. It is said that the Parsis worship the water and according to the  Parsi calendar, there is a whole month dedicated to the goddess of  water. They usually come to the Parsi Gate at Marine Drive and go down the stairs to offer milk, flower petals, and raw rice to the water. To get this construction complete the builders were ready to take  down the gate and spoil the beauty of Marine Drive as well as the sentiments of the Parsi people. Many old and young Parsis protested against it and then later it was decided that the  construction would go around the gate then through it.  

As a conclusion, it can be said that this development currently has not  been helping people, but rather has hurt their sentiments and created a  lot of problems for them, including the destruction of Mumbai’s best  destination, Marine Drive.