One suburb giving Bandra a run for its money as Queen of the Suburbs, is Mulund that not only has Mumbai’s biggest five-star hotel coming up here, but is also home to many upscale residential towers that are multiplying fast, and as real estate rates boom, its handful of ever-crowded glitzy shopping malls boast of more lounge bars and watering holes continue to increase their numbers.

However, this central suburb along the city’s civic boundary continues to suffer from staggered three-hour load-shedding, an experience most of Mumbai is alien to. Worse, while the past 5 or 6-years have seen new building permissions in Mulund add up to nearly a hundred towers, the roads are simply not keeping up.

“The widening of roads is the topmost issue for Mulund," says Prakash Padikkal, President of the Hillside Residents’ Welfare Association (HIRWA). “And, what’s required to execute the plan is political will." Among the many pending road widening issues in Mulund is that of Mulund Colony Road, also called Guru Gobind Singh Road, where over 100-roadside structures, many in existence since the 1950s will have to be demolished.

When local politicians promised to have the proposed road width reduced in order to save the structures, citizens’ organizations like HIRWA approached the administration. “If, the road is widened in bits and bottlenecks continue to remain, the traffic congestion will never reduce," says Padikkal.

The Mulund stretch of Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, once a row of industrial units, is now turning into a row of elite homes, hotels, restaurants, malls and commercial complexes. “But, where are the approach roads and flyovers?" asks Padikkal. The drains along LBS Marg being widened by the MMRDA, are still incomplete, blocked by debris at several places. Many places have electricity and telephone cables passing through them, while more trees are slated to be felled, all matters which are facing strong opposition from local residents.

Mulund West is also home to a handful of slum colonies, such as, Ashok Nagar, Vijay Nagar and Nanepada that bear the worst of the monsoon floods, with Nanepada located alongside a major drain. Gavandpada in Mulund (East) is also a low-lying area, a chronic flooding zone.