The BMC on its part said that it is now up to the railways and the traffic police to come up with a plan so that the infrastructure created is put to good use.
The elevated autorickshaw deck at Andheri station is yet to be commissioned by Western Railway (WR) even six months after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation cleared a pathway leading to the deck. The Bombay High Court in February had ordered that the pathway in the eastern fringe of the station be cleared after which the BMC swung into action and did the job, including placing bollards to ensure smooth flow of pedestrians and rickshaws on the pathway.
As on Tuesday, WR authorities are unsure of when the deck would be commissioned. In reply to a query, WR general manager GC Agarwal stated: "Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Mumbai division would be making on the spot assessment at Andheri with officers concerned in a few days."
The BMC on its part said that it is now up to the railways and the traffic police to come up with a plan so that the infrastructure created is put to good use. Speaking to dna, Devendra Jain, K-East ward deputy municipal commissioner, said, "WR and traffic police must start the deck immediately. Whatever help is required from BMC will be provided earnestly. It is something that will be of great help to passengers as well as the road scenario in the eastern part of Andheri station. It should not be delayed.
The Andheri elevated auto deck was a novel experiment in which, possibly for the first time, railways was using its airspace to reduce traffic snarls on a road outside its own territory. However, faulty construction, especially a pea-brained plan to have rickshaws cross a heavily-patronised foot overbridge at Andheri station, ruined the plan. WR engineers could never find a solution on how to get rickshaws to cross the FOB without hindering the movement of railway commuters entering and exiting the station.
The original plan included building a 100-metre-long elevated autorickshaw lane, using which autorickaws were to enter from Swami Nityanand Road in front of the BEST depot in Andheri East. The rickshaws would then move on to a two-lane elevated deck — 60-metre-long and 34-metre-wide with footpaths on either sides — built between the middle and north FOBs of Andheri station. The original plan was that autos would pick commuters, cross the north-end FOB, and descend down a five meter wide ramp and take a road beside the newly constructed railway police building near the metro station and move to MV Road. From here the rickshaws move to Andheri-Kurla Road. However, unable to find a solution to how autorickshaws would cross the busy FOB, WR decided to have rickshaws return the same way as they came up from Nityanand Road.
Started in 2011, the project was to be completed by December 2013 till the BMC cleared the pathway in February this year.
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