A Slippery Slope: Man dies, BMC rushes to fix Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road

As he inaugurated the GhatkoparMankhurd Link Road on August 1 Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had pointed to its uneven surface A month later the shoddy work claimed the life of a 34yearold twowheeler pillion rider on Monday Not just the CM the traffic department too had informed the BMC that the road had seen many accidents The civic body has now begun repairing a few stretches of the new roadOn Monday afternoon Mankhurd resident Yusuf Khan died after the twowheeler on which he was riding pillion skidded on the GhatkoparMankhurd Link Road GMLR ldquoHe was returning from Kurla CST Road His friend Akhtar Khan was riding the bike The twowheeler hit the sidewall Yusuf was taken to a nearby hospital but declared dead on arrival Akhtar has been admitted to Noor Hospitalrdquo said an officer from Deonar policeFrom Day 1 there have been several accidents on the GhatkoparMankhurd Link RoadYusuf lived with his wife father 4yearold son brother and two sisters His wife is pregnant ldquoMy son had called me around 2 pm and said he was coming back home Around 4 pm I got a call from the police and they said he had died in an accident He died just near my house I have lost my elder son Is the police going to take action on the contractors who built such a faulty road said his father Mohammed Islam KhanThe distraught father added ldquoYusuf had a scrap shop at Bainganwadi and had resumed business just 15 days ago He was the only earning member of our family I donrsquot know how to run the family nowrdquo Yusufrsquos uncle Mohammed Phool Khan told midday ldquoThe bridge is entirely faulty bikes skid on it We have lost a pillar of our family but nothing will happen to anyone They shouldnrsquot allow bikes on the bridge till the road is fixedrdquoThe 29kmlong road was opened for the public after much delay While the CM appreciated the BMC for completing it he didnrsquot appear happy with the quality He had even asked civic chief IS Chahal to personally look into it The bridge cuts the travel time from Ghatkopar to Mankhurd by 25 to 30 minutesProving the CMrsquos concerns Day 1 started with a vegetable van turning turtle Between August 4 and 30 the road has seen eight accidents including the death of Yusuf and injuries to many It has also seen 22 minor mishaps said copsOn August 5 the Mankhurd Traffic Division wrote to the BMC raising a red flag ldquoWe had informed BMC engineers about the need for control devices to maintain vehicular speed below 50kmhr CCTV surveillance rumblers at regular intervals lane marking But nothing happened In fact thieves are removing nuts and bolts and other metal stuff from the bridge which may cause serious accidentsrdquo said a traffic official on condition of anonymityKishore Shinde incharge of Mankhurd Traffic division said the local police and BMC should look into the concerns raised by his departmentlsquoSomething isnrsquot rightrsquoShivaji Nagar resident Sajid Khan said ldquoI have taken this bridge since its opening but many times I have felt something is not right with the road Once my bike skidded I stopped and checked the road for any oil spillage but there was nothing The problem is with the road not with the riding of peoplerdquoPrabhu Nadar from Dharavi who had gone to Navi Mumbai and returned on August 29 morning said ldquoI saw some Scooties skidding Traffic cops were asking us to slow down My Scooty is brand new I immediately stopped and parked it on the side But suddenly a car came and knocked me down My right leg is fractured There were 5 to 6 people who sustained injuries that time after their scooters skiddedrdquoYusufrsquos death prompted Twitteratis to complain about the road Filmmaker and actress Pooja Bhatt wrote ldquoIt did not seem like a flyover that was recently built Way too much wear and tear in the first few days of opening itself Why are contractors allowed to get away with thisrdquo User Alok Badri wrote ldquoI was on this bridge only 2 days back The work is so shabby The contractor should be charged with manslaughter and put behind barsrdquoBMC has already penalised the contractor for Rs 40 lakh over the delay in completing the bridge The construction of the R576crore flyover started in 2016 and it was supposed to be ready on January 1 2019 But it got delayed and the cost zoomed to Rs 714 croreFollowing Yusufrsquos death BMC scurried to fix it ldquoAn urgent meeting was called and it was decided to do some milling removing some layers of the road It will be done on Tuesday night or Wednesdayrdquo said a source from the civic bodySatish Thosar BMCrsquos chief engineer bridges said ldquoAccording to me there is no problem with the surface of the road Overspeeding and rains have resulted in accidents Still we are looking at what we can do to improve the surface quality Local BMC officials have decided to do some road millingrdquo8No of major accidents on the new road since its inauguration