Pawar inaugurates a bridge sans "approach road"

The residents are clearly agitated over the fact that the approach road to the bridge snakes by their residences. The road on the Kasarwadi side converges on the Mumbai-Pune Highway after passing through the notorious railway gate and the chaotic vegetable market.

Although the bridge was inaugurated today, it has been in use for nearly eight months. The traffic volume had been minimal due to the fact that the road on the bridge was strewn with craters and protruding pointed stones.

Only last week the PCMC had tarred the road and provided street lights in anticipation of today’s inauguration by Pawar, who represents both the suburbs in the Lok Sabha.

A sense of foreboding has gripped the residents who are of the unanimous opinion that since the bridge has now officially gone on stream, there would be heavy traffic passing by their residence which would spell danger to their existence.

“The half-kilometre stretch of the road from the bridge to the highway is not even seven feet wide. A four-wheeler barely manages to squeeze through as both sides of the road is occupied by a row of houses,” points out Shridhar Chalka of the Citizen’s Forum, Kasarwadi. “The road is dotted with electricity poles and besides this, children use the major stretches as a playground,” he adds.

Raju Pathare, a resident, says that besides the narrow width of the road, it has many turns and twists. “Accidents, though minor ones, have become the order of the day. A few scrap dealers who do brisk business occupy a major chunk of the road. A rubber factory is located right in the residential area.”

Besides the risky approach road, another nightmare for motorists is the Kasarwadi railway gate, which, in the absence of the automatic signal gate, has claimed a number of lives over the years. “Despite protests and dharnas by the residents, the railways have remained unmoved. Three major accidents have taken place at this manually operated gate. Protesting Kasarwadians had even forced a local train to retreat in reverse gear from this railway gate about two years back,” says a shopkeeper doing business near the railway gate.

Yet another irritant on this road is the vegetable market spreading from near the railway gate to the highway. “The PCMC has not been able to evict hawkers, because the officials say that there is no land available for the purpose. In fact, a letter received by the Citizen’s Forum from the Municipal Commissioner’s office claims that the land for vegetable market is not in their possession,” says activist Ravindra Asadhe.

Led by corporator Eknath Mote, the activists in the suburb have been pressing for an underground road from the Marshall Company. The company had even reportedly agreed to offer land for the purpose. “However the talks between the company and the PCMC failed as latter could not offer a quid pro quo,” says Hemant Nahata, a resident and a member of the Citizen’s Forum.

When contacted, City Engineer S D Garade said the talks with the Marshall company were still on and the PCMC expects to get land from them for an approch road from the bridge. “Also, the Municipal Commissioner has ordered the shifting of the hawkers from the vegetable market which creates traffic blockades,” he added.