Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway choking on dust

Dust pollution due to concreting work has caused severe air pollution

Authorities have turned a blind eye to the dust pollution that is taking place on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, which is due to the mud scattered on the sides of the road and the dust due to ongoing concreting work. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is carrying out the concreting work on the highway stretch between Varsova Bridge and Manor but no water is being sprinkled to curb the dust pollution which is causing a lot of inconvenience to the motorists.

On Thursday, this reporter travelled between Mira Road and Palghar via the Mumbai Ahmedabad highway and during our journey we noticed that while traffic jam is a really serious issue due to the ongoing work, the more serious issue is that of the cement concrete dust pollution and the pollution due to the mud dumped on the side of the road.

The dust pollution has affected two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws

"The ongoing concreting work of the Mumbai Ahmedabad Highway is not only leading to traffic jams but due to the ongoing work a lot of dust pollution is taking place leading to air pollution. It took me around two hours to reach Manor and what surprised me was no water was being sprinkled on the road or the location where the concreting work was on," said Kaushal Dubey, a bike rider. During our journey we witnessed that, the issue of dust pollution is more in the northbound direction (towards Ahmedabad) of the highway compared to the southbound direction.

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Hiren Patel another motorist said, "It is unfortunate to see that the motorists going towards Ahmedabad and coming towards Mumbai are facing a lot of problems due to the dust on the road between Varsova Bridge and Manor. During my travel from Surat to Mumbai, I witnessed the contractor carrying out the concreting work of the highway stretch had not sprinkled water construction because of which two-wheeler riders and those travelling in rickshaws have to breathe air full of cement concrete. The government authorities should take action against the contractor carrying out the work," said Hiren Patel.

A local restaurant owner said, "After the concreting work started, the business of small food joints along the highway has impacted as no one wants to enter the hotel where there is dust pollution. Locals also pointed out that the dust on the highway can lead to low visibility at night which also increases the chances of accidents.