NCP tries to inaugurate BKC-Chunabhatti flyover

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Sunday held a protest at Edward Nagar, Chunabhatti, to forcibly inaugurate the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC)-Chunabhatti flyover,

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Sunday held a protest at Edward Nagar, Chunabhatti, to forcibly inaugurate the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC)-Chunabhatti flyover, which is expected to provide a huge respite to the vehicular traffic in this belt. However, the agitation was withdrawn after the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) assured the party workers that the flyover would be thrown open to the public within the next eight days.

The flyover is expected to reduce travel time between BKC and Chunabhatti by at least 30 minutes.

NCP workers, led by Mumbai unit chief Nawab Malik arrived at Edward Nagar at 10am and climbed on the stationed JCB machine. He accused the Devendra Fadnavis-led state government of deliberately delaying the inauguration, claiming the latter wants to get credit for the flyover. “The construction of this flyover was started in 2014 by our government and now that it is complete, the government is still not inaugurating it, causing large-scale hardships to people. The government may change, but people should not be inconvenienced,” said Malik.

He slammed Fadnavis saying he was unable to find time to inaugurate this flyover as he was preoccupied with the Maha Janadesh Yatra and then with the state Assembly elections.

After Malik announced on Friday that the NCP would forcibly open the flyover, the police department issued notices to NCP workers and also deployed personnel near the spot. However, after Malik’s speech, MMRDA officials met the workers and Malik had a telephonic conversation with MMRDA commissioner RA Rajeev, who assured him that the flyover would be functional in the next eight days.