Drive from Andheri to Versova in 5 minutes

Mumbai: Motorists driving from Andheri to Versova may celebrate the fact that their commute is likely to be shortened by 40 minutes in future

Mumbai: Motorists driving from Andheri to Versova may celebrate the fact that their commute is likely to be shortened by 40 minutes in future. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) much awaited Yari Road-Lokhandwala bridge project is set to kick-off finally, after a decade-long delay, driven by many legal roadblocks.

Mumbai, India - September 01, 2022: A view of the the area where the bridge will come up in future at New Yari Road, Lokhandwala, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, September 01, 2022. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

The Supreme Court (SC) vacated a stay on the project on August 30 and dismissed a special leave petition filed by a group of residents of a Yari Road housing society.

The proposed bridge will cut down the travel time from 45 to 5 minutes along the congested Lokhandwala, Andheri and Versova stretches. The construction was proposed in 2012, with a plan to build the 210-meter bridge over Kavathe Creek, connecting a back road of Lokhandwala with Yari Road, in Andheri (west).

The bridge will be in a ‘Y’ shape, starting from Jai Bharat Society at Panch Marg on Yari Road, extending to Mhada Road in Four Bungalows on one side and Oberoi Springs in Lokhandwala on the other side.

SC dismissed a special leave petition (SLP) filed by some residents of Jai Bharat Housing Society on Yari Road on August 30, vacating a stay order of April 2021, which had stalled the project.

Advocate Amit Pai, who appeared on behalf of the residents, told HT that the SLP was primarily filed to avoid destroying the mangroves; also, the project did not have the forest department’s clearance.

“Traffic congestion was just one part of the issue. However, the SC has dismissed the SLP and even waived off the earlier ₹2 lakh cost imposed by the high court,” said Pai.

The project became mired in litigation since 2019, when some residents of Jai Bharat Society had first filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court. The court dismissed the PIL in December 2020 and the ₹2 lakh cost imposed on the residents.

Two pleas were made in the 2019 PIL – one was based on a claim that the alignment of the steel bridge between Yari Road and Lokhandwala was flawed and that the route should be changed; the second was the concern that it would lead to largescale destruction of mangroves.

The petition was dismissed on December 4, 2020, in the absence of sufficient material from residents to counter the authorities. On the issue of mangroves, HC had referenced an earlier court order where specific permission was granted to BMC for the project.

However, the December 4, 2020, order prompted some residents of the housing society to file an SLP in SC. The apex court thereafter granted stay on the project in April 2021. The project has been stalled since.

This is when residents under the umbrella of New Yari Road Trust, rooting for the project, filed an intervention application in September 2021.

“Finally, in the last week of August the case was listed and we tabled the facts, saying Yari Road, Lokhandwala and Versova suffer the most vehicular congestion in the entire city. The infrastructure project was stalled only because it was running in front of a housing society, which led residents to put a spanner in the works. It had nothing to do with mangroves,” said advocate Sunil Fernandes, who appeared for New Yari Road Trust.

Satish Thosar, chief engineer, bridges, said BMC was yet to receive the copy of the SC order but the project has the clearance from the forest department.

“It is a great victory of public movement against civic apathy. Our next job is having BMC expedite the construction, after an eight-year-long wait,” said Shashi Ranjan, president of New Yari Road Trust.

Sumeet Gandhi from Trust said it was a victory of people over those with malafide intent. “The residents fought tooth and nail and got what they wanted,” said Gandhi.