Mumbai: Goregaon residents file complaint over unsafe conditions at Metro construction site

Residents from Goregaon have filed a complaint with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) over unsafe conditions due to the ongoing Metro construction work at Goregaon on the Western Express Highway (WEH).

Several issues like potholes or missing street lights near the construction site, have been highlighted citing that it is causing traffic snarls on WEH during peak hours.

Construction of Dahisar East- Andheri East Metro-7 corridor is ongoing at WEH since 2016, and several lanes of WEH are barricaded for the Metro construction work that is expected to be completed by mid-2019.

Residents from Goregaon's Bimbisar Nagar have demanded that Metro contractor Simplex Infrastructure should vacate the space below the JVLR flyover on WEH as it is allegedly illegally occupying the space below the flyover for keeping construction materials and having mobile cabins for Metro works.

"We can have vehicular movement from below the flyover during peak hours in the similar way how Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation is doing below Vakola flyover considering underground Metro work is ongoing on the service road. But here the Metro contractor has occupied the space."

However, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) that owns JVLR flyover said that it has given permission for using space below JVLR flyover during construction of Metro corridor. A query sent to Simplex Infrastructure did not yield any response.

A MSRDC official said, "We have given permission to MMRDA for using space below flyover due to space constraints, however, whether vehicular traffic unlike Vakola flyover can pass below JVLR flyover can be only decided after a study considering moving of vehicles involves vibrations."

Srinivas Aramudhan, a resident of Bimbisar Nagar said, "There is no proper lighting at Metro construction site, and it becomes very difficult during evening hours for one to walk or drive or walk with darkness and potholes. Thousands of people walk and drive on this stretch as there is NESCO exhibition centre nearby."

Meanwhile, Dilip Kawathkar, Spokesperson, MMRDA said, "We will act on priority basis on complaint filed by residents. Also on potholes we will fill them after we get dry spells." The around 25-km-long WEH is maintained by MMRDA between Dahisar and Andheri and by Public Works Department between Andheri and Bandra.