Locals to monitor delayed Santa Cruz Chembur Link Road work

Fed up with authorities’ apathy and unprecedented delay, citizens have decided to take up monitoring of the most-delayed project, the Santa Cruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR) bridge, to build pressure on authorities. A group of citizens from the Citizens Transport Committee set out to photographically document the project work on October 9.

“It has been more than six years that the project has begun and it is going on at a very slow pace. The authorities do not seem to be bothered about the ground realities and the trouble that the average commuter suffers. There are ramps, pillars and half-built structures left abandoned in crowded areas,” Jitendra Gupta of the Citizens Transport Committee, who is spearheading the campaign, said.

Termed as an engineering marvel by the National Geographic, the project that first started in 2003 is stuck in a maze of encroachments and red-tape. However, an official associated with the project says that this is a project of a “mega scale”.
“The delay is project specific and actual work on SCLR began in 2007, not 2003 as the World Bank had suspended the loan for some period,” he added.

Another citizen said, “At Kurla (West), the bridge at Kalpana Talkies is almost ready and can be put to use, solving the problem at the junction. It has been in similar condition since 2005.”

The SCLR remains stuck in the maze of encroachments and red-tape despite regular World Bank monitoring with the local authorities, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) simply failing to gauge when the project will be completed.

“SCLR is the biggest and most ambitious project of the city. It will connect two extreme parts of Mumbai - Santa Cruz in the west and Chembur in the east. The challenges are huge,” a site engineer said.

Gupta said the citizens committee will set out to photographically document how much work has been completed and how much more remains. “This is one of the ways to build and sustain pressure on the authorities,” he said. Those willing to participate may contact Gupta at jeetu21@gmail.com.