DNA:
Mumbai: Friday, 06 February 2015.
After the BMC
dragged its feet over the construction of the Kurla-Kalina Bridge, the vital
link between Santa Cruz(East) and Kurla (W) was officially open to public only
last week. However, to avoid traffic congestion at LBS Marg and CST Road,
commuters have been using the bridge for almost four months, since construction
work was stalled. Moreover, according to the information received through an
RTI application filed by an Iamin correspondent, the construction work was
stalled in October last year, with only 45% of the work being complete.
Masood Malik,
a resident of Kurla, who owns a shop near the bridge said, “BMC workers stopped
construction work in October, after which motorists started using the bridge,
despite the lack of traffic signals. The commuters have been using both sides
of the bridge as a two-way road, which leads to heavy congestion. Only last
week, the BMC put up a small hoarding which said that the Kurla-Kalina Bridge
is now open for vehicles."
The
construction work had begun in 2009, but the lack of progress in the project,
left locals infuriated. In 2013, residents of Kalina and Kurla staged protests
against the civic body as well, demanding speedy completion of the project. The
RTI response from F.K.Chavan, executive engineer, from BMC’s bridge department
clearly shows how the corporation has been repeatedly missing deadlines, with
the last date for completion of the project being May 31, 2014. Almost a year
after the deadline, only 45% of the bridge is ready and BMC officials have
placed a proposal to extend the deadline, for completing the entire project.
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