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Highway sans bus shelter gives a prickly time to Nerul commuters

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The ongoing road concretisation work on the Sion-Panvel highway has left thousands of commuters exposed to the scorching heat, on an everyday basis. Some of them take shelter under the flyover and cross the road on seeing the bus approaching, risking their lives.

On the stretch between Vashi and Panvel, on the Sion-Panvel highway, a few construction companies have been carrying out road widening as well as concretisation work. Following this, they have removed all bus shelters between the stretch. However, they have erected temporary bus shelters at a few places but shelters are either in shoddy condition or buses do not halt there.

With the blistering sun and constant rise in temperature, commuters do not find shade and have to wait in the open area. "It is an everyday ordeal for us. We stand exposed and have no place to take shelter," said Sweta Shetty, a student of DY Patil hotel management college in Nerul.

The construction company has erected a temporary bus shelter at LP bus stand in Nerul but buses do not halt there. The bus shelter is also in a pathetic condition with vehicles parked illegally in front of it. "Earlier, we used to stand there. But with no maintenance, the shelter has become a garbage dumping place," added Shetty.

"Sometimes, we have to wait for 15-20 minutes to get into the bus because it is not possible to stand in the extreme heat," said Ashutosh Chavan, a commuter.
The condition is worse at Kalamboli circle where illegal encroachment by vendors along the road have added to the woes of commuters. The Kalamboli bus stand is frequently used by patients as MGM Hospital lies along the highway. "On many occasions, commuters, especially patients have to jostle to find shelter. A few of them take shelter inside temporary vendor shops while some under trees.

Shrish Aradwad, transport manager of NMMT accepted the problem but expressed the inability to do much. "The land along the highway belongs to PWD and they can erect temporary bus shelters for commuters," said Aradwad. However, he assured that he would talk to the concerned department regarding the issue.

The highway road is used by almost all transport authorities including NMMT, BEST, Kalyan-Dombivali Transport and State Transport, among others. With so many transport authorities using the road, the responsibility of the bus shelter is simply being passed to others.

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