Mumbai: Two years, one road, endless complaints, yet zero concrete

The residents of four housing societies located at Vakolas Khandwala Compound road have been fighting an uphill battle with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC for the past two years as a planned Development Plan DP road that provides access to these buildings has remained a lsquokutcharsquo nonconcreted roadThe road witnesses severe waterlogging during the monsoon leading to the accumulation of garbage once the rainwater has drained As it marks the access points for these buildings citizens have expressed concerns about safety and the inconvenience of commuting in and out of their homes during the monsoon months especially for senior citizens and childrenWaterlogging on the road as seen after a heavy downpour PicEeshanpriya MSThree departments from the BMC responsible for solving the situation the H East ward office with jurisdiction over the area the Civic Roads and Traffic Department and the Development Plan DP Department have been passing the buck regarding this issue since October 2023 leading to no action on the groundResidents speakYatin Shah a resident of Amity Housing Society which is among the buildings affected by the issue said ldquoAfter heavy rain the entire road gets waterlogged There are no channels or slopes along the road to drain rainwater naturally As its surface is mostly mud and gravel it also becomes very slippery Once the water has drained into the earth below we have to deal with a marshy and slippery surface for many more hoursrdquoYatin Shah a resident of Amity Housing SocietyNimish Chitalia another resident of Amity Society said ldquoWe have faced this problem since 2019 even though it appears on BMCs records since 2023 For many years now BMC has completely ignored our issue I am 60 years old and every monsoon I navigate a waterlogged road to access the main road from my housing society This is fraught with garbage stones and even stray branches of treesrdquoThe management of Anjali Kiran Society wrote to BMC to draw its attention to the issue and pointed out that they have been denied an important amenity of a tarred road with access to the main road The letter a copy of which is with midday read ldquoDespite the declaration of the DP road passing through our land and having been acquired by the BMC no road with a storm water drain has been constructed resulting in heavy waterlogging during the monsoon which creates health hazardsrdquoThe problemAccording to records from BMC accessed by midday the road spans approximately 320 metres It is dotted with commercial and residential encroachments according to BMC which requires multidepartment coordination to take the project of concretisation forwardFollowing repeated complaints from the residents the H East ward office in October 2023 informed the Roads Department to include concreting of this road in its annual calendar of road work projectsIn its letter the ward officials also pointed out that a fire had been reported in the nearby lsquoPragati Buildingrsquo posing challenges for the Mumbai fire brigade to access the spot for firefighting operations The letter read ldquoThis office received various complaints from the local public regarding improvement of the 915 metre wide DP road from Khandwala Lane to Datta Mandir Road some stretches are in bad conditionrdquoFollowing a waterlogged monsoon in 2024 the residents wrote to the Urban Development Department in January 2025 requesting intervention to concrete the road ldquoWe have followed up with every department in the BMC that is responsible for the issue We wrote multiple letters to BMC but to no avail We finally approached the Urban Development Department of the Government of Maharashtra for intervention in January But yet another monsoon has arrived and the situation has not changed for usrdquo Shah saidBMC passes the buckAn official from the Roads Department involved in the issue said ldquoNo work can be started without a noobjection certificate from the Development Plan Department clarifying that the handover of this roadrsquos ownership has actually taken place Moreover the local ward needs to ensure all encroachments are removedrdquo Officials from the DP Department were unavailable for commentThe residents have produced affidavits and receipts received from the BMC that certify that the road has been handed over to the DP Department from the housing societies a copy of the receipts is available with middayWhat is a DP roadA DP road appears on the Development Plan of the civic body prepared every two decades which presents a blueprint for the development of the city Existing lsquokutcharsquo or internal roads are identified and mapped in the Development Plan indicating crucial connectivity between areas320mLength of the road