Haphazard parking near Turbhe causes jams on TB road

Haphazard parking of vehicles along the Thane-Belapur road, especially near Turbhe railway station, is responsible for traffic jams during peak office hours every day. Motorists using the road blame autorickshaws parked outside the railway station and some other vehicles for the mess.

"I have to take this road daily to travel to my office in Mahape. Every day at Turbhe the traffic is blocked as most of the autos are parked outside the railway station. They occupy one lane leaving merely two lanes for motorists. In case any heavy vehicle is parked, it aggravates the problem," said Sachin Kshirsagar, a resident of Belapur.

Meanwhile, autorickshaw drivers had a different opinion. "There is some work going on inside the Turbhe station and so we have to park our autos on the road. If we are given space inside, we can take our vehicles in," said Gurunath Patil, an auto driver.

Another motorist, Sarang Kamat, wanted traffic police to take action against vehicles parked on the road. "Parked vehicles are a big nuisance for motorists. It is difficult to understand why traffic cops are not taking any action against the vehicles or declaring the road as no-parking zone. There are plans to make this road as an urban expressway. But with such kind of traffic problems, can we really make this road an urban expressway? asked Kamat.

He added, "At least a flyover should be constructed at this point so that we do not have to face the bottleneck and vehicles going towards Thane can just zoom away without getting stuck in the jam."