One wall gone = two hours saved

Nearly nine months after midday highlighted the plight of about 25000 families residing in the Kandivli Lokhandwala Township and lakhs of commuters travelling on Akurli Road who spend hours to travel on a onekm stretch due to traffic snarls the BMC demolished a 120foot wall This will now provide them with easy alternative access to the Western Express HighwayThe onekm stretch of road connects the township to Thakur Village towards the WEHmidday had highlighted two cases where members of Bajoria and Talwar families had alleged that the harrowing traffic had claimed the lives of their loved ones as they could not reach the nearby hospitals on timeBMC demolished the 120 feet wall which will provide locals and commuters easy alternative access to the Western Express HighwayAnother incident reported was that of the students of Gundecha Education Academy in Thakur Village who had reached an hour late for their Std IX exams as the school bus was stuck in trafficPeaceful protestsTo press for their demands local residents had been organising peaceful assemblies once a month hoping to be heard by the authorities concerned and were reaching a point of desperationldquoThe DP of 1991 which has provision for a 120 feet road has been delayed due to the presence of 310 legal shanties at Singh Estate along the wall But we are happy that the new opening which currently can be used only by two and three wheelers cuts down an hourlong tedious drive to little over five minutesrdquo informed Nitin Jha a local resident and activistThanking midday for highlighting their plight Jha added that it was a time consuming task to find alternative accommodation for the affected families so the residents had suggested an alternative plan where a boundary wall of Mahindra and Mahindra which was handed over to the government in 2018 could be demolished without touching the houses at Singh Estate ldquoThe matter picked up pace in the past four months after meetings with the Chief Ministerrdquo he saidlsquoWalked home in 5 minutesrsquoYuvraj Bhosle 23 a banking course student of Thakur College said his daily commute ordeal invariably started with first finding an auto and then spending more than Rs 100 for a chaotic two hours ride in traffic to and fro ldquoOn Wednesday evening after my lecture I heard about the demolition and was immensely happy when I reached home walking in just five minutesrdquoShiva Singh 18 an IT student from the same college expressed his happiness of saving time and money on his daily commute by an auto ldquoThere have been times when I have spent R70 for a one way journeyrdquo he saidOfficial speakDr Bhagyashree Kapse deputy municipal commissioner Zone 7 informed that a team from the Bridges Department was already working on a feasibility report for construction of an elevated roadway with minimum displacement of huts in Singh Estate for better connectivity of four wheelers and heavy vehicles to further ease the trafficldquoOur biggest challenge is finding alternative accommodation for the hut dwellers This is a daunting and time consuming taskWe had offered monetary compensation but the residents are opposed to shiftingrdquo she said