Taking serious cognisance of the number of speed breakers coming up randomly across the city, the traffic police have sent a letter to the roads and traffic department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), asking authorities to demolish the unauthorised speed breakers and reconstruct those which have not been constructed as per the Indian Road Congress (IRC) guidelines.
As per the latest data provided by the traffic police, out of the 550-odd speed breakers in the city, 128 are unauthorised, ie they have come up without BMC's permission, and 123 are not in accordance with IRC's guidelines.
"The BMC is responsible for removing unauthorised speed breakers and ensuring that they don't come up again. On our part, we can only request them to take action, as such speed breakers disrupt the smooth flow of traffic," said BK Upadhyay, joint commissioner of police (traffic).
Another traffic officer said the process has been going on for sometime, but the BMC has still not been able to take adequate action.
Road department officials admitted to having received the letter. "We will send a circular on this to all the 24 wards across the city by Tuesday. We will also monitor if the wards are acting on them," a senior civic official said.
In response to a public interest litigation, the Bombay high court had in 2005 directed the civic body to take into account the guidelines mentioned under IRC before constructing a speed breaker. However, activists say the number of unathorised speed breakers is actually much more than what is reported, which is a clear disregard for the HC ruling.
dna, on July 22, had reported extensively on how several unauthorised speed breakers cropping up across the city are inconveniencing residents.
Not only do such speed breakers damage vehicles and cause heavy traffic congestion, but they also lead to accidents and spoil the quality of road.
The matter has also been discussed several times at a high-powered committee meeting headed by Maharashtra chief secretary Amitabh Rajan. The committee was appointed as per HC's instructions.
Earlier, the BMC had said it gets 10 to 12 requests every month from individual wards for construction of speed breakers, and three to four requests for their removal. It had also said wards construct them mostly out of political pressure.
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