Mumbai: Mumbai’s F/North ward sits at an uneasy intersection of history, density and civic fatigue. Stretching across the eastern belt of the island city, the ward brings together some of Mumbai’s most
carefully planned, heritage-rich neighbourhoods and some of its most overcrowded informal settlements within a single civic boundary. As the city inches towards long-delayed municipal elections, F/North offers a revealing snapshot of how uneven civic delivery, administrative churn and shifting political equations have reshaped voter sentiment.
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Spread over 12.94 sq km, F/North is among the larger administrative wards of the BMC. For the 2025 civic polls, the ward’s broad structure — covering Matunga, Sion and Wadala — remains unchanged. It comprises 10 electoral wards, numbered 172 to 181, even as Mumbai as a whole has reverted to the 227- ward framework used in the 2017 elections. The civic body published final delimitation lists on October 6, 2025, introducing minor boundary rectifications to account for population shifts, redevelopment patterns and new infrastructure projects.
These adjustments did not alter the ward’s overall political weight but have subtly reshaped voter distribution at the booth level, adding complexity to an already competitive electoral terrain. Administratively, F/North oversees a wide and varied geography — Matunga, Sion, Wadala, Hindu Colony and adjoining pockets — each with sharply different civic needs. With an electorate of nearly 3.89 lakh voters, the ward remains a significant bloc in Mumbai’s civic arithmetic, its internal diversity complicating both governance and campaigning.
Large sections of F/North are dominated by informal settlements, particularly in Sion Koliwada, Wadala, Antop Hill and Sion East. Localities such as Korba Mithagar, Sion Transit Camp, Ganesh Nagar and Himmat Nagar are characterised by tightly packed housing, narrow lanes and overstretched civic infrastructure.
Residents say daily life here is shaped by persistent drainage failures, irregular garbage collection and chronic water shortages. During the monsoon, even brief spells of rain are enough to trigger sewage overflows, flooding internal gullies and heightening health risks. In Ward 176 of Sion Koliwada, frustration has hardened into resignation. Dineshbhai, a long-time local activist from Sardar Nagar 2, says the area has effectively been without a corporator “for ages”.
Struggling to recall the last time an elected representative was active, he estimates it may have been around 2018 or 2019. One of the issues that angers him most is the stalling of redevelopment projects. Equally galling, he says, is the incomplete Tansa pipeline work, despite court orders and the fact that displaced residents have already been provided alternative accommodation. “Politicians are simply not interested in helping Sion Koliwada residents,” he says. “Try walking to the market,” he says. “You are forced to walk on the road because pavements have either been dug up or encroached upon.”
Roads, he alleges, are excavated repeatedly — sometimes twice a month — only to be rebuilt and dug up again. Shopkeepers, he adds, have shut down because customers cannot reach their premises. “Punjabi Colony and areas near the gurudwara are a nightmare.” Pratiksha Nagar, originally conceived as a rehabilitation colony for displaced families, has over the decades evolved into a largely middle-class neighbourhood. Yet civic neglect remains a daily reality. A single potholed road stretching from GTB station to the bus depot inside the colony has become a permanent ordeal, crippling access and mobility. Illegal construction and squatting are rampant, adding to congestion and straining basic services.
Water scarcity is particularly severe. “I get water for barely two hours early in the morning, and all my work has to be done in that window,” says Dinaben, a cook who was forced to move to make way for redevelopment. “I pay Rs21,000 for one small room, and even then water is a daily struggle.” This sense of civic drift sharpened in early 2025 with repeated changes in ward-level leadership. In March and April, residents across Sion, Matunga and Dadar staged protests and launched a signature campaign against the transfer of the ward’s assistant municipal commissioner after a short tenure.
The episode took on a political edge after the local MLA publicly acknowledged objecting to the officer’s functioning and playing a role in the transfer. GR Vohra, a Matunga resident and member of the F/N Citizen Federation, points to what he describes as a collapse in communication between citizens and authorities, arguing that both elected representatives and civic officials have become inaccessible. Vohra also raises concerns about traffic mismanagement, encroachments and the growing absence of visible policing.
At the other end of the ward lie more organised neighbourhoods such as Hindu Colony, Parsi Colony, Five Gardens, King’s Circle and parts of Matunga. Residents complain of shrinking pedestrian space due to hawker encroachments, poorly sequenced road works and the unchecked spread of illegal political hoardings. Traffic congestion has emerged as a rare issue cutting across class and geography in F/North. In Ward 172 near Sion Circle, resident Sandeep Desai says the situation has deteriorated sharply. He points to luxury buses illegally occupying large stretches of road.
“Despite repeated complaints, the traffic police appear unbothered,” he says. Desai argues that congestion worsened after the demolition of the Sion bridge. He alleges that residents now face intimidation when they approach civic officials. “There is dadagiri by municipal officials,” he says. Civic enforcement actions have also drawn attention through 2025. Drives against unauthorised shop extensions led to the demolition of several illegal structures across parts of the ward.
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