Wrong-side driving is prevalent on Katraj-Kondhwa Road
Many roads in the city have pending works, and haphazard works are putting lives at risk, the corporators said.
The road has witnessed over 21 fatalities in the last few years, but the project has been dragging, he said. They said the administration was taking ‘too much time’ to finish the crucial stretch of 3.5km from Katraj towards the Khadi Machine Chowk. Because it was among the busiest roads, arvind Shinde, senior corporator of the Congress party, said the delays were concerning in the case of the Katraj-Kondhwa Road, which started years ago.
The administration, he said, was not serious towards completing it. The corporators from the Katraj-Kondhwa Road area said they had been getting daily updates from residents about the immense hardships they were facing. “Safety measures on the road stretch were missing, and the work has been done in patches,” the corporators said. Rakesh Kamthe, a corporator, said widening of the Katraj-Kondhwa Road stretch would not resolve the problem entirely, and the administration would have to develop other roads proposed in the regional plan and development plan.
Commuters in the area were unhappy over the snail’s pace of work.
The corporators from opposition parties, including the NCP and Congress, staged an agitation soon after the general body meeting commenced. They displayed the placards demanding urgent steps to ensure safer commutes.
However, now over 90% of the land has been taken into possession. Around 10 owners were yet to hand over their plots, and the administration was looking ahead to finish pending acquisition in next three weeks, he said. Among immediate measures, Pavaskar said as many as 50 wardens would be deployed to manage the traffic, with the administration was developing a cement-concrete road to overcome repeated deterioration of road surface, he said, adding that the stormwater lines were also being laid to reduce chances of rainwater accumulation.
Aniruddha Pavasakar, a city engineer, said the administration faced a major challenge in getting hold of land plots from the owners since many demanded cash compensation. Incomplete land acquisition was the major reason behind delays.