Thane residents see no end to road mess

While the work on Metro line 4, from Wadala to Kasarvadavli, has led to traffic congestion on Ghodbunder Highway, residents have claimed that the internal roads

While the work on Metro line 4, from Wadala to Kasarvadavli, has led to traffic congestion on Ghodbunder Highway, residents have claimed that the internal roads and service roads, which serve as an alternative to Ghodbunder too are in a pathetic condition.

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The internal roads at Brahmand, Waghbil, Patlipada, Kavesar, Anandnagar and Kasarvadavli are in a bad shape. The entire stretch of service road from Brahmand to Ovala is a motorist’s nightmare.

Several residential societies at Ghodbunder Road have written to Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), demanding to repair the internal roads.

The letter is drafted by Ghodbunder Road Cultural and Sports Association, which has asked TMC to repair the road before schools reopen. There have been instances of school buses get stuck in traffic.

Waman Kale, president of the association, said the road in Kavesar and Anandnagar had caved in during monsoon because of shoddy drainage work.

Kale said, “The ongoing Metro 4 work has led to traffic snarls along Ghodbunder Highway. Most commuters going towards Kasarvadavli and Ovala use interior roads. The internal roads at Waghbil, Brahmand, Hiranandani Estate connect Kasarvadavli through Kavesar and Anandnagar area. Thus, there is a lot of traffic on Kavesar and Anandnagar roads.”

He said the roads, especially the Kavesar road which leads to Children’s Traffic Park, are in a pathetic condition. “The road had caved in at five to six places during monsoon due to shoddy work of laying drainage lines. TMC had laid sewage line beneath the road and restored the road in a hurry before monsoon. In the first heavy rain, the road caved in. TMC repaired the road during Ganeshotsav, but the road is still in a pathetic condition.”

There are many residential complexes and schools off Ghodbunder Road.

Jyoti Sahu, 42, resident of Regency Tower in Kavesar, said, “TMC had tried to do some patchwork on the internal roads, but all of them are in pathetic condition. Roads at Brahmand, Kavesar, Waghbil and Kasarvadavli still have potholes and are dusty to travel on. There is also heavy traffic as trucks and school buses ply on the roads.”

Ovala resident Pramod Adsule, 45, said the stretch of service road from Brahmand to Ovala is in pathetic condition.

Adsule added, “The service road which was dug up for sewage and water lines before monsoon was not repaired. The internal roads near Waghbil, Anandnagar and the traffic park areas too are bad. The population of Ghodbunder Road has increased in the past few years. We expect TMC to at least provide us basic facilities.”

City engineer of TMC, Ravindra Khadtale, claimed that the work of resurfacing of service roads is on the cards. He said, “We have decided to carry out resurfacing and strengthening of all service roads using the latest technology. The directives to start repair work on service roads are already given by the civic commissioner. We will make a budget estimate this week. We had repaired the internal roads, especially the one near the traffic park, however due to the rain last week, the roads have again developed potholes.”

The work of repairing the roads at Kavesar will also begin in the next eight days. Khadtale said the repair work on the road near Kasarvadavli police station has begun while the one at Saraswati School Circle too will begin by next week.

On June 29, work of laying sewage line in Ghodbunder area led to road cave in at several places along this road. Roads had caved in at five spots in Anandnagar and Kavesar area of Ghodbunder Road. TMC blamed the cave-in on laying of sewage lines below the roads.