Four months after inauguration, Thane’s flyover wears off

Within four months of its inauguration, the roads on newly constructed Meenatai Thackeray flyover have worn off.

Within four months of its inauguration, the roads on newly constructed Meenatai Thackeray flyover have worn off.

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Potholes have surfaced on the roads, raising questions on the quality of work.

The flyover, constructed by Thane Municipal Corporation, does not see much movement of heavy vehicles or peak-hour congestion. The two arms of Meenatai Thackeray flyover were inaugurated in April.

Meenatai Thackeray junction was one of the busiest junctions in the heart of the city. The flyover with one arm connecting Kalwa and another to LBS Road has eased 50 per cent of the congestion at this junction.

However, the bad roads have led to slowing down of traffic during peak hours. Swapnil Sinalkar, 35, resident of Majiwada, said, “The road at the start of the flyover has worn off since a week. We have to slow down on the flyover. There is lot of traffic in the morning as vehicles are moving at a slow speed. There were also potholes at the junction where the two arms, one to Kalwa and one to LBS Road merge.”

Commuters said Meenatai Thackeray flyover was opened merely a few months ago before elections. Praveen Mahapadi, 36, resident of Manpada, said, “The flyover was opened in a hurry as elections were nearing. They could have completed the road work properly before opening it. The condition of the road shows that it was shoddy work. This is waste of taxpayers’ money.”

A civic engineer refuted allegations that the road work is shoddy. “Only the top coating of the road has worn off. There are no potholes on the flyover. We will ask the contractor to resurface the road once we get a dry spell. Heavy downpour has washed away the coating.”