At Peddar Rd, flyover is unwelcome

Residents of Peddar Road are not happy. With the proposed 3-km flyover starting from Lala lajpatrai College to Wilson College finally becoming a reality, anger on building the flyover is widespread. “Nowhere in the world do you have a flyover making its way in between a thickly-populated residential area. The construction of the flyover will inconvenience the residents and can be dubbed as the death of Peddar Road as we know it,” says Ramesh Kundanmal, former secretary of the Peddar Road Residents Association. “Also, the polluting air will come under a funnel effect and won’t be able to escape out of this clustered area,” he adds.

Many residents are surprised that the construction has been given the green signal. “What sense does this make? I live in a low-rise flat. Pollution, noise and traffic lights will disturb me in the night,” says Reshma Jain, a resident of Maheshwar Niketan at Peddar Road.

People running their businesses off this road have mixed views about the flyover. “If this helps the public, I am for it. But, this is only going to create new bottlenecks at the end of the flyover. Pushing for the sea link would be a the right thing to do,” says Rishad Kundanmal, owner of the petrol pump adjacent to Jaslok Hospital.

Motorists, however, seem thrilled. “It’s high time they did something about the traffic. I am sure the flyover will ease the traffic,” says Rohit Verma who commutes through this stretch.