MMRDA told to improve road at Dadar for NOC

"We have asked the MMRDA to remove them and let us know when they are done. We will then conduct our mock drill,” said a senior official from the Fire department.

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MMRDA told to improve road in Dadar for NOC. (File)

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has yet another hurdle to cross before it could get the monorail operational. The Fire department has asked them to improve the road infrastructure around the monorail’s Dadar East station before it gives them a No Objection Certificate (NOC).

“We need to conduct a mock drill before we give an NOC for the station. But the road leading to the station is uneven and not suitable for our fire engine to drive on. There are also some fences and barricades that need to be removed. We have asked the MMRDA to remove them and let us know when they are done. We will then conduct our mock drill,” said a senior official from the Fire department.

While the other 16 stations of the Chembur-Jacob Circle corridor have received the fire NOC, the Dadar East station has been tangled in a court battle after the residents of an adjacent building approached the High Court, stating that the station’s staircase left no space for a fire engine to enter their building.

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Residents of Bhavya Heights moved the court in 2015, stating that the staircase was barely two metres from the building’s entrance and left no space for a fire engine to enter. The mock drill by the Fire department would help ascertain the accessibility to the building at the time of an emergency. “The access to the building is narrow but we can access it from the road,” the official added.

While submitting its proposal to the government to begin operations of the monorail after a fire on November 9 disrupted the Phase I operations, the MMRDA had stated that the Dadar East station would be opened to the public only after it receives NOC from the Fire department.

“The Fire department has written to us about the leveling of the road. We will be taking it up soon so that they can go ahead with the mock drill there,” said Sanjay Khandare, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA.

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