With new 90 feet road, travel to Gorai beach to be smooth

BMC has demolished 326 hutments to expand Mahatma Phule Road, which connects to Gorai beach and the famous Pagoda. The newly asphalted 90-foot-wide road will be open for traffic next week, with gardens, painted walls, and lighting arrangements. The expansion of the road will make it easier for tourists and the fire brigade. The civic official said 133 families had been rehabilitated in a BMC-owned building, and the remaining hutments are illegal.

Soon, a ride to the otherwise narrow, and waterlogged Mahatma Phule Road, which connects to Gorai beach and the famous Pagoda, will be without a hitch as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demolished 326 hutments and expanded it to a 90-foot-wide road.

With new 90 feet road, travel to Gorai beach to be smooth

The civic body would throw open this newly asphalted road for traffic next week, an official from R Central ward said.

“Gardens will also be set up while walls on both sides of the road will be painted, and lighting arrangements will be made. The BMC has made a token provision of ₹1.5 crore towards these facilities,” the official said.

The civic official said this road was 40 feet in width and the encroachment made access further difficult for tourists and the fire brigade, especially during the recent fires at Shree Complex CHS and Royal Palace CHS.

“There were waterlogging issues too. But now buses can even ply on this road that goes towards jetty, beach and Pagoda,” he said.

Assistant commissioner Sandhya Nandedkar said, “It is now a 90-foot-wide road constructed on 6,000-7,000 square metres. We will do wall beautification with the help from MLA fund. About 600 metres of road space were freed up after the 326 hutments were removed.”

This Gorai entry point would be adorned with streetlights and street furniture like benches, she said. “This will create a good impression as all the hutments had blue plastic sheets which weren’t aesthetically appealing.”

The civic official, who was quoted above, said of the 326 families, 133 had been rehabilitated in a BMC-owned building on Pandit Mallarao Kulkarni Road. “The remaining hutments are illegal, but their hearing is under process.