After takeover from MMRDA, BMC transforms WEH from Kandivali to Dahisar

Mumbai: A month after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) took over the Western Express Highway (WEH) from the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), ₹3

Mumbai: A month after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) took over the Western Express Highway (WEH) from the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), ₹3.5 crore has been spent to transform the stretch from Kandivali to Dahisar in order to ease traffic congestion. The total expenditure excludes the cost of resources like dumpers and machinery to clear the debris and garbage left by MMRDA.

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The transformation is visible to commuters on the eight-kilometre stretch from Sanjay Gandhi Chowk in Kandivali East up to Gokulanand restaurant culminating at Dahisar check naka. The work required was huge, from repairing broken kerbstones to lifting 200 dumpers of debris from under the bridges and dividers.

Three service roads have now been made operational by removing 300 slum encroachments, and footpaths around WEH riddled with unused cars have been cleared for pedestrians. Even abandoned vehicles from under the Sanjay Gandhi National Flyover have been removed.

Civic workers were put on the job at night to illuminate street light poles with LED strips on the entire stretch. A retaining wall in Devipada slum at Borivali has been repaired and painted.

Bhagyashree Kapse, deputy municipal commissioner of Zone VII, which comprises Kandivali, Borivali and Dahisar told Hindustan Times that since MMRDA had handed over the WEH on an ‘as is where is’ basis, 200 trucks of debris were removed from the 90-feet road under the National Park bridge.

“The service roads on both sides of the National Park highway, which were not operational, have been opened up,” she said. “Traffic is now diverted to these two lanes and bottlenecks have reduced on account of less congestion now. Saidham Mandir lane was blocked due to shanties, but hawkers have been removed from there. The service road on this lane is also operational now. When we put it to use, vagrants and shanties will be out of the picture. The vagrants will be accommodated in beggar homes.”

Kapse said that all encroachments, sheds and extensions of shops on the Thakur Complex 90-feet road to the National Park bridge stretch in Borivali have been removed.

“The retaining wall and hillocks were beautified. There were parked cars and abandoned vehicles under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park bridge, which have been cleared, and the bridge walls have been adorned with Warli paintings. The central median has been lit up,” said a civic official from R (Central) ward in Borivali.

Two hundred structures were demolished near the Saidham temple and that service road has also been made operational. “Two more service roads were made operational under Sanjay Gandhi National Park bridge. There were Aarey stalls on the footpaths, which were demolished and made free for pedestrians,” said the civic official.

On September 17, Hindustan Times was the first to report how the BMC had evinced an interest in taking over the maintenance of WEH (from Bandra to Dahisar) and Eastern Express Highway (EEH) from Sion to Mulund from MMRDA and becoming the single nodal agency for maintenance. Municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had announced it at a meeting with the assistant commissioners of 24 administrative wards in September.