Subway in Mumbai inaugurated after a 14-year delay

After 2005, the work came to a standstill as Veermata Jeejabai Technical Institute (VJTI) said the subway was to prone to flooding.

It took 14 years for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Railways to construct the Kurla subway, which was finally opened to public on Thursday. The subway will connect Kurla east and west and will mainly be helpful to people going to work in Chembur and Bandra-Kurla Complex.

The subway will connect Kurla east and west. (HT)

The 130-metre-long, 7.6-metre-wide and 2.6-metre-high subway was built at a cost of Rs8.89 crore. Former chief minister and Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi had asked for the subway, work on which was initiated in 2002. After 2005, the work came to a standstill as Veermata Jeejabai Technical Institute (VJTI) said the subway was to prone to flooding.

According to the earlier plan, the subway was to also cater to vehicular traffic from Kurla and Chembur going via Ghatkopar or Sion to reach LBS Road and BKC. However, the plan was cancelled as it was a low-lying area.

The railway authorities had completed about 70% of the work before 2005, but the remaining was held up as the BMC had refused to give permission for the areas where the entry and exit points for the subway were supposed to be.

After abandoning the work for years, the civic authority resumed construction of the subway, which connects almost 10 suburban railway tracks on the Central Railway and harbour line, in February 2016. “It is a perfect example of lack of coordination between two authorities. After the delay, the least both the authorities could have done was to upgrade the design and connect the subway to the station platform. After all, in all these years the commuters have also increased at the subway,” said Anil Galgali, an RTI activist.