6 months on, Mumbai's LBS Rd stretch remains dug up

Manish Mody, a resident of Sion (West), hopes every day that the dug-up LBS Road would be repaired.

LBS Marg is an important arterial road in the eastern suburbs joining Sion to Thane.

The barricaded portion has been causing a lot of problem for residents and commuters. It’s been six months it has been dug up but there is no sign of it being completed.  

It’s not only causing problems for commuters, the road has become an ideal place for illegal parking.

The residents said that a small portion of the road has been dug up for the utility work outside Sion (W) railway station and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation left it unattended.

“I wonder why it hasn’t been repaired because no work has been carried out for the past six months. Earlier, we felt that it would be repaired immediately after the utility work is complete,” said Mody. “The authorities have simply ignored the half-dug road.”

He added that the road has been reduced to just a narrow lane, causing a bottleneck which leads to a lot of traffic jam. The LBS Road is crowded throughout the day.

“The barricades put around the dug road has led to vehicles parked illegally on the free space. No work is going on and still the road has not been repaired for the past few months. We wonder what the authorities are waiting for,” said Mahesh Kale, another resident.

However, the officials from the G (North) ward agreed that the road has been like this for a long time. “The road will be repaired at the earliest to ease the traffic on the road,” said a senior official of G (North) ward office.