While the monsoon failed to keep its date on June 6, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has managed to fulfill its promise of making city roads monsoon ready. Hence, on Friday, the civic body threw open three major roads for the public after completing repair works on them.
The TMC opened the Station road area in Thane west, Balkum to Kasarvadavli road and the right arm of Ghodbunder service road open for public. The three roads had undergone major widening work in the past three months.
The 870mtr-long Station road from Ashok Talkies to Jambhlinaka was widened to 15 metres from seven metres. Soon, it will be fitted with street furniture, sign boards, etc., through public private funding.
A new service road, which is 9-metre wide and 1.2-km long, was built from Balkum to Kasarvadavli, was inaugurated on Friday. Along with this, the 9 metre wide and 7 kilometre-long Ghodbunder service road's right arm (from Mumbai to Thane) was opened for vehicles.
Since March, TMC had undertaken road widening works in various parts of the city. For this, over 5,000 structures were demolished to make bigger roads available for the citizens. Those who lost their houses in this demolition drive were rehabilitated by TMC and those whose shops were razed were given alternative space. These roads are expected to reduce traffic jams and facilitate better vehicle movement on the roads of Thane.
"After the roads have been widened, hope they are also kept hawker-free by TMC," said Nitin Kale, a resident of Thane. "Even if the hawkers are not there, vehicles are illegally parked on these roads thereby defeating the purpose. The TMC should address both the issues of hawkers and illegal parking simultaneously," Kale added.
