Mumbai: Locals unhappy with shortcut made for AC bus to Siddhivinayak

The divider in front of Sena Bhavan on Lady Jamshed Ji road was removed on Monday to help the AC bus to Siddhivinayak temple take a U-turn. Pic/Ashish Raje

The civic body has removed part of the divider on the busy Lady Jamshed Ji road to make way for the new special AC buses to Siddhivinayak temple from Kohinoor parking lot. Locals, however, are not too happy with the move as it may lead to further traffic chaos at the junction, they believe. The bus, which was supposed to begin operations from Sunday, has been delayed due to some technical issues.

BMC got Kohinoor parking lot has a vehicle capacity of 1,007 vehicles. In order to ensure optimum utilisation of the public parking lot, the civic body recently decided to start an AC bus between Kohinoor and Siddhivinayak temple. For its smooth ride through the area, the ward office removed part of the divider in front of Sena Bhavan on L J road. "It will not only help the AC bus but the vehicles driving towards the PPL also get better access," said an official from G North ward.

"The junction is known for its traffic jam. There are always long queues of vehicles here owing to the long duration of signals. The civic body removed the part of divider just 50 metres from the signal. How can a bus take a U-turn or go into the narrow Thakkar lane if there is a long queue of vehicles?" asked Yogesh Ghanekar, a regular traveller. Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of G North, however, said that "all necessary permissions from the traffic police department have been taken." He said, "The work is completed today and it will help better access to the parking lot which is inside the narrow lane."

AC bus delayed

The AC bus services were supposed to begin on Sunday. But that has been delayed by at least three days, with the bus likely to ply from Wednesday. There will be two AC buses that will ply at an interval of 15 minutes and run on a circular route. The first bus will start at 8 am.

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