Four days after Senapati Bapat Road was dug up for replacing a water pipeline, residents say they have to endure traffic snarls due to the narrow road
Relaying of a main water pipe on Senapati Bapat Road has got the locality’s residents up in arms, as they are enduring chaotic traffic snarls for the last four days due to the digging of the road. The PMC intends to replace the old water pipeline with new ones, and has hence restarted excavation work, which was stopped in June due to the onset of the monsoons.u00a0
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Chock-A-Block: Residents complained that the digging is leading to ugly traffic jams in the area, which is affecting their daily commute. Four months ago, in June, the same work of laying down the pipeline was taken up for which at least 25 trees had been cut despite a High Court ban. Pic/Krunal Gosavi
Residents, however, say the digging has created a mess, leading to snarls in the area, which is affecting their normal routine and putting their travel plans in disarray.u00a0Vilas Kale, a resident from the area, said that the narrow road is causing traffic jams, particularly in the evening. “Commuters coming from Law College Road or Deccan Gymkhana who want to go to the IT companies located on SB Road have to pass this particular stretch.
However, frequent digging and resurfacing of the road is making the lives of pedestrians and motorists miserable,” Kale said. Raising a question on the shoddy civic planning, Amit Paranjape, a commuter who frequents this route, said that the road was dug, and then resurfaced a few months ago. “Why are the civic authorities digging up the road again? Is it a case of poor quality work?” asked Paranjpe.
Work on the half-kilometre road, which stretches from Bal Bharati to the Passport office on SB Road, has been dug up for the last four days for laying down the water pipe lines in the area. Four months ago, in June, the same work of laying down the pipeline was taken up for which at least 25 trees had been cut despite a High Court ban.
The local ward officer Madhav Jagtap had already turned a deaf ear to the question raised by MiD DAY, saying that the matter did not come under the jurisdiction of the ward office.
The residents are now running from pillar to post, but no authority is ready to take the cognisance of their complaints. Santosh Polekar, another resident, said that every time he has tried to meet with Jagtap, hoping that he would resolve their problem, he has received the same answer from the officials present in the ward offices that Jagtap has stepped out to demolish illegal encroachments in the area.
The other side
PMC Executive Engineer Satish Bhosarekar said that work commenced only after police gave them permission for the work, which was stop during the monsoons. “The work is likely to conclude by March. However, the traffic is moving smoothly there, as we have placed barricades on the road,” said Bhosarekar.
Pramod Nirbhavane, head of the road department, PMC, said, “We are installing new water pipelines, as the old one is not functioning well. Our project is to lay down the new pipe line and then to remove the old ones, which will make the water supply better in the area.” u00a0
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