Work on Marve Road far from complete

BMC officials said since the work got delayed they have has now decided to concretise part of the 90 feet road (45 feet) before monsoon the rest will be completed later.

“The construction work is unlikely to be completed before monsoon. The road is full of potholes and we have extreme difficulty in commuting every day. As it is the only road connecting several villages and various co-operative and private housing socieities in the Marve,Malvani area,the heavy traffic on the road puts further pressure on the already damaged road,” said Noella Varaela,member of the Rathodi Citizen Welfare Association and the Civic Political cell of the Anthony Church.

The single 1-km stretch of the Marve road connects various villages in the area including Rathodi village,Kharodi Village,Ali Talao area,Asmita Jyoti Housing Socieity,Madh,Malvani and Aksa.

While more than two lakh people reside in the areas nearby Marve road,there is heavy commuter traffic of not only nearby residents but of people visiting Aksa,Madh,Marve beaches.

According to a senior official of BMC’s road department,“While part of the road will be conctretised before June 12,the rest will be taken up after the rains”.

Additional Municipal Commissioner,Rajeev Jalota said,“The contractors in-charge of conctretising the road will have to complete the work or bring it to a safe level for people to use during monsoon. The contractors will also be penalised if the potholes are not filled on the second half of the road”.

Residents feel that the situation is expected to worsen in the next few days as more than 10,000 visitors are expected to visit the St Anthony’s Church at Marve road everyday for the 10 day ‘Novena’ — local church festival.

Rajan Puri,resident of the Marve Beach Citizen Association said,“People have developed health problems such as Asthma and Spondylisis. The under-construction roads do not have proper street lighting during the night and debris and open gutters,makes it worse for pedestrians”.