Citizen group pushes for DP roads as a solution for city’s traffic

Mumbai: With the city becoming a hub for traffic jams, Mumbai March, a people’s collective, has come together, taken matters into their own hands and decided to find a solution that already lies on paper with the government. Implementation of the roads planned in Mumbai’s Development Plan (DP) 2034 can solve the city’s traffic problem, according to Mumbai March.

With their initiative ‘Lapata Sadak’ (Missing Road), they want to solve the problem by getting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to build these DP roads. A Development Plan or DP is a blueprint of a city’s development to make the city livable.

Gopal Jhaveri, founder, Mumbai March, and his team of 40 people have identified more than 250 bottlenecks on these DP roads that, if removed, can resolve major traffic problems.

“If we take an example of the western suburbs, there are three arterial roads between Dahisar and Bandra. These constitute 22 total lanes. The Western Express Highway (WEH), the Link Road and the SV Road. All three are always jammed. But, if you look at the DP 2034, some roads could be built parallel to these three arterial roads, which will add 22 more lanes,” said Jhaveri.

To explain the senior civic officials better, they have printed a 3D model of the western Suburbs as per the DP 2034. Explaining the process of identifying the problem areas, Avinash Thatwani, another founder member of Mumbai March, said, members go around these DP roads, identify the problems/bottlenecks and list down the possible solutions. They then meet public representatives or civic officials and get the work going. “A lot of these DP roads are built in parts. They start and end nowhere. Whatever land is available, the civic body builds it. A lot of the land is encroached upon or has informal settlements. If the government rehabilitates them, the problem is resolved, and a road can come up there,” Thawani said.

Giving an example of connecting Borivali with Kandivali Lokhandwala and further to Goregaon, Thawani said that they were able to get a part road built between Kandivali Lokhandwala and Borivali. The only thing lying in between is 300 slums.

“If BMC rehabilitates them, we are opening a parallel road to WEH between Borivali and Malad. Imagine the relief. One part of the road is built in Borivali, another in Kandivali Lokhandwala, and now only the missing link between these two remains.” says Thawani.

It is not just informal settlements. Some of the land is with private owners or agencies like the Food Corporation of India. If only BMC and these agencies talk, a lot of these problems will be solved.” said Jhaveri.

A senior BMC official agreed to the problem and explained that the issue is with the availability of houses or shops for PAPs. “Every ward has a road engineer who has identified these bottlenecks, but we do not have houses to shift them. For example, if we ask a resident in Andheri to rehabilitate in Ghatkopar, he may not, and the ward may not have enough houses to shift them,” he said.

The officer explained that if the SRA or MMRDA ties up with BMC and makes their houses available to these PAPs, smaller bottlenecks, which require 25-30 houses to be rehabilitated, can be done in a few days, and roads will start decongesting.

Members of the Mumbai March have now taken up two specific DP roads in Borivali to make a point to the civic body. One near Borivali Station East and another near Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Borivali.

After visiting the site, filing various RTIs, and gathering information, they explained the traffic jam problem of Borivali railway station East can be resolved by rehabilitation of just 69 slums.

“More than 1,600 BEST buses pass from Borivali station East to WEH. To add to this there is a State Transport bus depot, auto rickshaws, police station and railway station. A completely parallel road can solve the congestion in the area by developing the DP road that already exists in the plan.” said Jhaveri.

“Most of these roads have been in the DP for the last 50 years, yet there is nothing done to develop them,” he added.

Mumbai March has now decided to take a walk of 51 kilometres on these bottlenecks and highlight it to the authorities. When you travel from the city to the Western Suburbs, three major roads all merge at the Mahim Causeway. There is a bridge connecting Tulsi Pipeline Road to Bandra station in DP, which the civic body has ignored and never built. There is a proposed road in Dharavi connecting directly to Sion through the T junction. But that too is never built.

Besides all the small DP roads in the city, there are three key DP roads in the Western Suburbs, one in the Eastern Suburbs (between Powai to Mulund) and one in the city (near Antop Hill). If these 5 arterial roads are also built, a major traffic issue across the city will be resolved.

“Only if authorities talk to each other, a lot of these roads will be ready. We are stuck in acquisitions and rehabilitations,” said Jhaveri, Mumbai March members said the civic body needs to sit together with other agencies, look at this DP and just sort out the issues, and the problem will be resolved.