16 March,2009 11:03 AM IST | | Somita Pal
Shopkeepers on the Jawaharlal Nehru road, Mulund (w) have called for a bandh todayu00a0to protest the construction of a skywalk in the vicinity. The protest is scheduled foru00a011 am.
The new foot overbridge will cover the entire RRT Road, starting from Mulund station till Ashwini hospital.
"It is sheer waste of money. Nobody is concerned about our daily business which will be affected. People who take the skywalk will not even visit our shops," says an aggrieved readymade storeowner on RRT Road, Mulund west.
Corporator Suniil Gangwaanii who initiated the protest from Mulund said, "Skywalk in Mulund is ill planned. We had written a letter to Ratnakar Gaikwad mention the technical hitches.
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In Mulund all roads are 60 ft and one-way traffic. This was done to reduce traffic congestion. With 3 ft pillars coming in between the road, it will add to the traffic woes. Also the buildings here are quiet close to the road thereby once skywalk comes up, miscreants can easily peep in and break privacy and create nuisance."
Yogesh Katira, President of Shopkeepers' Association says, "In Bhandup and Vikhroli, the skywalk leads from the station to LBS Marg and makes it convenient for people to cross the heavy traffic and cross many signals.
Here in Mulund, the LBS Marg is two kilometers from the station and there are no signals near station. So what is the sense in building skywalks?"
Katira further adds, "The entire project has been thrust on us. Most commuters come to NS Road only to catch a bus or auto. Otherwise the flow of public is thin. In RRT Road, once they implement the Supreme Court order to remove hawkers, there will be ample space for pedestrians. As you cross the RRT Road junction, at least 50 per cent of the flow of people is reduced. Most people who get down from the train go towards JN Road but no skywalk is planned there."
Earlier, residents and shopkeepers from five areas -- Grant Road, Dadar (East), Santa Cruz (West), Kandivili (East) and Mulund registered their protest against the skywalks.
A delegation of members from the Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association (FRTWA) and a few locals met Kripashankar Singh, Mumbai Congress president and MLA, to discuss the issue last month.
