Aarey Road repair work casuing polluion, traffic

Residents said eight to 10 spots on the road were dug up in the last week alone, a few of them as recently as Friday

Repairs to the newly concretised Aarey Milk Colony Road are once again inconveniencing commuters who use it to travel between Goregaon and the eastern suburbs. Apart from congestion, residents have complained that repair work is also causing a lot of dust pollution.

The dug-up spots have debris lying in the open, causing dust to billow as vehicles move past.

Not long ago, commuters had to take a diversion due to road concretisation work, which began after COVID-19 and was completed only in 2024. Now, they have to endure a two-way road being squeezed into one lane at around 10 spots.

Gregory Malavani, a Malad resident who travels to SEEPZ daily for work, described the situation in the rush hours. “There is a lot of traffic, and the spots that are dug up cause a lot of backlogs in traffic,” he said. “When buses come, they must take a turn around the barricades, and this causes a lot of issues. And this keeps on happening every week. New spots are dug up on the concretised road for the so-called repairs. There are at least seven such spots in the 1km stretch from Modern Bakery bus station till Aarey Hospital.”

The dug-up spots have debris lying in the open with only barricades around it, causing dust to billow as vehicles move past. Virat Singh, a Borivali resident who used the road two weeks ago, highlighted the dust pollution along the stretch, which affects pedestrians and those travelling on two-wheelers and in autorickshaws.

“The new road is in a mess,” he said. “It has been damaged and a section in the middle has been barricaded, causing the pile up of traffic. This is causing terrible dust pollution all along the stretch. There is also no safe walking space for pedestrians.”

An official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) roads department explained the contractor is rectifying hairline cracks that had appeared on the concrete roads at 10 to 12 spots. “The BMC has instructed the contractor to rectify the spots, as it comes within the defect liability period,” said the official. “The work should be completed within a week or two. The BMC is not paying any more money for this work to the contractor, and it is instead charging a penalty of the same cost for redoing the work on it.”