Residents of Shirley Rajan Road and Pali Mala Road in Bandra (West) live in constant fear of contracting the swine flu. The reason - the pig farm at the nearby D’Silva Cottage.
Locals of the area claim that though the rearing of the pigs has been shifted to an empty plot on St Anne’s Church Road, the D’Silvas still bake pork in the cottage.
A few members of the Christian community in the area distributed Psalm number 91 from the Bible to their non-Christian neighbours to ‘protect’ them from the swine flu.
DNA had reported on May 6 about how residents from Didol Co-operative Housing Society had walled up their windows due to the pig farm.
“The civic body took half-hearted action at that time and confiscated 11 pigs,” said Bhagwan Atmaram, resident of Grotto Apartments which is opposite St Anne’s church.
“Recently, cases of malaria and chicken guinea have gone up in this area. Several residents, including my brother-in-law, suffered from malaria. Now, we fear a swine flu outbreak,” he said.
“My entire family had malaria last week. The obnoxious smell of baking with fats released in the air is unbearable. Also, it’s very unhygienic,” said Shabbir Bootwala, a resident of Didol CHS.
Residents want the BMC to go the whole hog by confiscating all the pigs and penalising the owners of the farm.
When contacted, a member of D’Silva Cottage said, “I have no comments. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Local corporator Kavita Rodricks has decided to help the residents. “They should give me a complaint in writing and I’ll take it up with the BMC,” she said.
S Murgundkar, acting assistant municipal commissioner, H-west ward, said, “The site is under observation. I recollect the market department confiscating pigs in the past.”
