Yellow plastic barricades placed between Dahisar and Andheri less than a month ago to manage traffic for construction of Metro 7 are already in terrible shape
The dividers are meant to help manage the traffic but more than 100 of these dividers along the stretch are damaged and even broken at some places. Pic/Nimesh Dave
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Even before the actual work for Metro 7 that will run from Andheri East to Dahisar East begins, the movable plastic dividers brought in to separate are in terrible shape at some places, less than a month since they were brought in for barricading the Western Express Highway (WEH).
While the MMRDA has claimed at a press conference earlier this month that it is going to spend R25 crore to manage the traffic between Dahisar East and Andheri East for the Metro 7 corridor, questions are being raised over the quality of plastic barricades the planning authority is using for diverting the traffic on the WEH. The yellow coloured traffic barricades were installed on the northbound traffic route, which is diverted via the southbound lane of WEH. The dividers are removed in the morning and placed at their location around 5 pm as they help guide the traffic.
Damaged and broken
During the evening peak hours, one lane of the southbound stretch between Goregaon and Kandivli is kept reserved for vehicles going towards Borivli. However, more than 100 of these dividers along the stretch are damaged and are even broken at some places, raising questions on their quality, that clearly is not up to the mark by. On Monday, mid-day travelled on WEH between Goregaon and Kandivli and found the dividers – some of which have been kept on the median of the road – damaged at many places. The main reason behind this seems to be the impact of the four wheelers, tempos and trucks.
Dismal quality to blame?
Transport expert Jitendra Gupta said, "If the temporary plastic barricades or dividers that have been installed on the WEH are getting damaged within a month from when they were installed, then the question arises on the quality of the material used to make these dividers. The authorities should check if the supplier's items are as per the standards [set by the Ministry of Road and Transport]. If not, then action should be taken against the company. Action should also be initiated against those drivers also who are deliberately hitting the dividers.
Fed up
The traffic police wardens who are deployed on the WEH are also not happy with the quality of the plastic dividers. "We are just fed up of the plastic dividers as half of our energy goes into lifting the damaged plastic dividers and propping them up again," said a traffic warden. RTI activist Anil Galgali said, "It's really sad on the part of the supplier to provide these plastic dividers because it’s clearly visible that these dividers are of substandard quality and action should be taken against the contractor." mid-day contacted Pravin Darade, additional metropolitan commissioner of MMRDA but he was unavailable for comment on the issue.
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