07 August,2017 12:00 PM IST | Mumbai | Chetna Sadadekar
While the BMC had told MMRDA to maintain entire roads where Metro construction is on, its official says they will only maintain barricaded parts
The uneven stretch that is not barricaded for Metro work, on the Link Road from Goregaon to Malad. Pic/Datta Kumbhar
While citizens continue to dodge potholes or suffer by falling because of them, the civic body and other authorities cannot decide which roads to maintain.
Several arterial roads in the city will be given to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for maintenance on temporary basis (until the construction of the Metro is complete).
The first in the list decided by BMC is the arterial road in the Western suburbs - Link road - which has been handed over to Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) for construction of the Dahisar-DN Nagar Metro line.
Whose road is it?
But while the road has been handed over to the MMRDA, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now decided that not just the part where work is going on, but the entire road, including the part which is open to traffic will have to be maintained by MMRC. (It was earlier decided that MMRDA will maintain the roads barricaded for the Metro, while the BMC will maintain those parts which are not cordoned off.) An official from the Roads Department said that BMC has also issued a letter to the MMRDA communicating that the maintenance of the entire roads should be done by the metro constructing authority, last month. Civic officials said that as the road is used by heavy vehicles for Metro construction which is causing bad patches and potholes, the entire road should be maintained by MMRC. Interestingly, MMRC officials said no such thing was communicated.
Chief Engineer of Roads Department in BMC, VP Chithore, said, "The maintenance of Link Road will be done by the metro constructing authority. But wherever else we have appointed contractors to carry out the road work on Link roads, there the maintenance will be their responsibility."
Bits and pieces
However, Pravin Darade, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, had this to say when asked about the BMC's decision, "We are taking care of the road inside the barricades and the stretch open to traffic is being looked after by BMC."
