Citizen activism & DNA drive end bottleneck on crucial east-west link road.
Finally, a major bottleneck on a crucial east-west link road in the city is all set to be cleared. Citizens’ activism and the campaign run by DNA over the stuck Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) have finally paid up. The bridge is now ready and will open up in a day or two with officials giving finishing touches to it on Sunday evening.
“We shall open it up this week for sure, either Monday or Tuesday,’’ a site engineer said.
The 12-lane road suddenly narrowed down over the railway lines to become a four-lane one, causing immense traffic jams, waste of man-hours and crores of burning fuel due to delay in procuring permissions from railways.
Harassed by the problem, regular motorists and citizens, including those from upmarket Powai complexes, IT professionals and office goers had chalked out an innovative campaign, involving posters, walkathon, a nukkad natak and even a Facebook pressure group to garner support to bring the attention of authorities.
DNA also took up the cause and wrote a series of articles on the stuck project in October 2011.
Railway officials said engineers working on the bridge were not able to get the right specifications leading to delays. The MSRDC too was following up the issue and finally in November the commissioner of railway safety cleared the launching of the bridge girders.
Stuck for more than six years, the crucial World Bank funded Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road that was a part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) is one of the two east-west connectivity links of the city. Work had almost been complete, but the stretch of a less than half a km become a major bottleneck. The girders of the over bridge had arrived a few months ago, but were waiting for permissions.
A recent RTI query had revealed that the cost of the JVLR project has gone up to Rs221.45 crore from the original estimated cost of Rs 119.40 crore.
Locals campaigning the cause had come up with catchy slogans like will the bridge be complete first or Kasab be hung first? Will petrol prices cross Rs100 first or the bridge would be ready by then? Should the bridge be named Adarsh so that it gets all its permissions?
“The bridge is finally opening. We are thankful to the authorities and DNA that took up the cause,’’ Vinod Sharma, the citizen activist, who launched the campaign and the Facebook Page told DNA.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}