Expressway: A myth in the making needs a second look

NASHIK, Aug 1: Barely has a week has sped by since State Minister for Public Works Nitin Gadkari flagged off the proposed Mumbai-Nashik E...

NASHIK, Aug 1: Barely has a week has sped by since State Minister for Public Works Nitin Gadkari flagged off the proposed Mumbai-Nashik Expressway, but the snags in the project are already crumpling the blueprint.

Closer scrutiny reveals at least three major flaws, which could pack the Rs 1,300 crore project back to the archives unless the authorities address them forthwith. Gadkari says work on the 100-mt-wide expressway will commence in January 1999 and that land acquisition along its 128-km stretch from Thane to Rajpur Bahula on the outskirts of Nashik, is almost complete.

The alternative route, from Rajur Bahula onwards via Pathardi, Wadner, Vihitgaon, Eklehra and Adgaon is yet to be finalised. This was decided to prevent the expressway from slicing right through Nashik city at the behest of the builders8217; lobby.

However, farmers from 10 villages where land is proposed to be acquired, have already raised the banner of revolt and have enlisted the support of political leaders. Gadkari, conveniently,has left the details to Nashik Guardian Minister Babanrao Gholap through whose constituency the Rajur Bahula-Adgaon route passes.

Besides, the facts also belie the claim that commuters using the proposed expressway will be able to shuttle between Mumbai and Nashik in two-and-a-half hours at 80 to 120 km per hour. Even today, it is possible to travel at 80 kmph between Vadivarhe about 30 km south of Nashik and Thane but the bottlenecks between Nashik and Vadivarhe near Rajur Bahula and from Thane to South Mumbai, slow traffic to a crawl.

Hence, Gadkari8217;s claim applies only to the Thane-Rajur Bahula stretch, which is nothing new. The expressway might as well be dubbed the Thane-Rajur Bahula Expressway8217; instead of the Mumbai-Nashik expressway8217;.

The planners appear to have ignored another vital factor. The existing Mumbai-Agra national highway is only 8.5 mt wide, against its planned width of 60 mt. No efforts have been made to widen it and encroachments on both sides, within the Nashik city limits,have added to traffic snarls. If the encroachments are cleared and the existing highway is widened from Adgaon to Vadivarhe, it could even serve as an expressway.

Story continues below this ad

But the government is obsessed with building an expressway with private participation. But if it simultaneously widens the existing highway, why would motorists use the expressway, for which they will have to pay a toll?

Farmers oppose move

: A Sheti Bachao Save Farmers Action Committee has been set up by farmers from 10 villages, to protest against a section of the proposed route of the Mumbai-Nashik Expressway which would mean forfeiting their lands.

The committee, which includes local Shiv Sena leaders like Uttam Handore and Satyabhama Gadekari and Congress leaders like Appasaheb Aringale, has appealed for unity among farmers to oppose the route from Rajur Bahula to Adgaon. Incidentally, the route from Thane to Rajur Bahula has been cleared but from Rajur Bahula onwards it was to slice through Nashik city. After protests frombuilders and property owners, the 17-km stretch is proposed to circumvent the city.

Farmers from Vilholi, Gaulane, Fathardi, Dadhegaon, Pimpalgaon Khamb, Vand-Vadner Dumala, Vinitgaon, Deolali, Nashik Road and Eklehra attended the meeting held at Vihitgaon. It will reconvene on Sunday. Vihitgaon, incidentally, is the hometown of Nashik Guardian Minister Babanrao Gholap.