Mumbai News: No Progress On 120ft Magathane-Goregaon DP Road Despite BMC Chief's Order 6 Months Ago; Residents Demand Action

Mumbai: After more than six months of Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner (BMC)’s order to implement the construction of the 120ft road from Magathane to Goregaon under the Development Plan (DP), the civic body has not made any progress related to the order.

The residents of Kandivali had filed a public interest litigation with the Bombay High Court against the realignment orders passed by the chief minister for the 120ft road from Magathane to Goregaon, reserved under DP 1967, 1991 and 2034.

The high court had directed the BMC chief to check if the realignment of the road, passing through Singh Estate connecting Lokhandwala Township and Thakur Village, was technically possible.

On October 1, The Free Press Journal had reported that the civic chief Bhushan Gagrani had rejected the chief minister’s direction to realign the proposed road stating that the realignment is technically not possible. He had said that the remaining encroached stretch of 250 metres needs to be developed by removing structure on availability of sufficient numbers of PAP tenements.

However, after six months of the civic chief’s order, the civic body has not progressed to remove the encroachment to continue with the construction of the proposed road. On April 11, the members of Lokhandwala Residents’ Association (LRA) who had filed the PIL in the matter, wrote to the assistant municipal commissioner of R/South ward demanding the completion and time-bound implementation of the commissioner’s order.

The residents have demanded the ward officer to give a documented reply on the developments made in the implementation of the order and the plan for implementation within 15 days.

“The road has been almost completed and construction of a very small part is remaining. If this construction is completed, it will directly provide relief to the traffic congestion on Akurli Rd,” said Shaukat Siddiqui, a member of LRA.

The residents also met the deputy municipal commissioner of Zone 7 and shared their representation with the official. “We handed an application to the DMC requesting him to fast-track the work. They might have genuine reasons since people are living on that small stretch. However, the official was positive to our representation and has said that they will start the work in 15 days,” said Devangi Dave, LRA member who was a part of the meeting with the DMC.

The Free Press Journal contacted Manish Salve, assistant municipal commissioner of R/South ward, but did not receive any reply.

Maharashtra CM had directed the BMC to realign the DP road on request of Magathane’s MLA Prakash Surve. A meeting between the deputy chief minister along with MLAs and other officials in June 2023 had considered the construction of a flyover to save the slum structures in Singh Estate that falls in the route of the said DP road.

The BMC had raised concerns against the realignment claiming that it would escalate the project value and the slum dwellers would still have to be removed. However, the CM issued a direction on March 14, 2024 to realign the complete DP Road.

In its order, the BMC chief observed that the DP road has been proposed between the two well-developed existing Akurli Road and Shyamnarayan Singh Road and therefore there is a need for development of this DP Road. The order stated that the BMC will develop the central portion of 250 metres of encroached road at the earliest and the eligible PAPs will be accommodated as per government policy in the vicinity.