School authorities battle for safe commute bears fruit

Kalyan: A two-year long battle to have a safe commuting road for school students by school authorities and citizens on the Kalyan - Murbad National Highway has come to an end, as the road is now being concretised and made monsoon ready by the National Highway Authorities (NHA).

The Kalyan - Murbad stretch is a vital one that connects Kaan to Murbad - Ahmednagar. This is the only route to connect these places as there is no railway route, and there are around five schools falling on this stretch and many school buses ply here daily.

The NHA had undertaken the road concretisation work on this stretch. The three-km stretch of the NH was in very bad condition with several portions dug up, waterlogged and full of potholes.

Last year, the school staff staged a protest, initiated repairing of the road after the school students were forced to walk to school due to heavy traffic congestion. The school administration and the locals have been demanding speeding up of the concrete work which has been going at a slow pace.

“The work is in the final stage and the road outside the school looks safer than before. This monsoon we will not have to worry about unsafe commuting on the road right outside the school entrance,” said Albin Antony, administrator of Sacred heart school.

“The road work was stalled several times however we had that dedication to ensure and get the work done. We highlighted the loopholes and demanded speedy work on this patch and finally the result can be seen,” added Albin.

In January, the administrator of the school in Kalyan on Tuesday staged a sit-in protest on the waterlogged road outside the school entrance after a school student suffered an injury.

In March again in the face-off between citizens and city authorities, the staff of Sacred Heart School hired a band and did a merry jig after their protests forced the authorities to resume the work on NH 61 which had been stalled for two days.

The school administration and staff called a protest outside the residence of state Public Works Department minister Ravindra Chavan to bring to his notice that the work had stopped again.

“The entire credit for the road work to be undertaken with priority goes to the school. Otherwise, this monsoon would have been very unsafe. Now it looks better with most portions concretised,” said Pankaj Tripati, 45, a commuter who takes the stretch daily to Murbad.