A year after assurances, Khar, Santacruz citizens demand ROB

Mumbai Members of Santacruz East Residents Association (SERA) and Mumbai North Central District Forum (MNCDF) took to streets on Saturday to demand a Road Over Bridge (ROB) at Khar subway a year after assurances from various agencies.

Citizens are demanding a ROB at Khar which sees heavy traffic jams in the area throughout the day, especially in monsoons due to potholes.

Back in 2016, then railway minister Suresh Prabhu had also raised this issue and asked Western Railway (WR) to widen the subway. However, it was decided by the authorities that constructing a bridge was the only feasible way since widening the subway was not possible.

The project has not seen any movement since 2016. Residents of SERA, which has around 100 housing society members have started hanging banners outside their housing societies and said in the civic body elections, they will vote for only the candidate who will get the job of ROB moving. Members of MNCDF are running an online campaign on Twitter demanding the ROB.

Residents of the area are also planning a peaceful protest and forming a human chain to spread more awareness on the issue before upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.

Advocate Trivankumar Karnani, founder of MNCDF, said, “We have been following up with the competent authorities & elected representatives to push for a bridge over the railway tracks above Khar subway. Residents from both the west & east side have been suffering the menace & wrath of the weak infrastructure which results in heavy traffic jams. We have the best engineers in the country. If the BMC and local leaders are willing to act, ROB at Khar can be made.”

Following a request from local MLA, Adv. Ashish Shelar in 2016, BMC had appointed an agency to study the feasibility of the ROB. The agency mentioned that there are certain structures that encroach on the alignment of slip road of the proposed bridge which includes some permanent structures and hutments that need to be removed for the bridge to be constructed.

An official from BMC bridges department said, “The hutments in the area need to be removed; road widening has to be done to make the bridge. It needs involvement of multiple agencies. So far, there has been no progress.”

Speaking with HT, joint secretary of SERA, Amit Nanda, said, “The association has been demanding a solution to this for many years. We have gone and met officials of BMC, MMRDA, traffic police, local police station, PWD minister, former mayor, MLA, and MP, but we have only got verbal assurances that they will see what can be done. It seems BMC has no will to make the bridge. We have the JJ flyover; we have flyover across stations to travel from east to west. Why can’t BMC then build one here?”