Khar East and West residents oppose elevated road over busy subway

Locals complain that the current plan will create further traffic snarls and destroy planned neighbourhoods with old, robust rain trees

Mumbai:

Mumbai, India - June 09, 2022: Inside view of Khar subway during HT Monsoon Audit, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, June 09, 2022. (Photo by Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times) (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

Mumbaikars residing on either side of the railway line between Khar and Santacruz stations are strongly opposed to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plan to construct an elevated road over the existing Khar subway. While they acknowledge the need for an alternative east-west connection, they say the current plan will create further traffic snarls and destroy planned neighbourhoods with old, robust rain trees.

Three prominent residents’ groups from the area – Santacruz East Residents Association (SERA) and Mumbai North Central District Forum (MNCDF) and a group representing Khar-Santacruz West residents – have already written to the municipal commissioner and the bridges department detailing their objections. They have also organised several meetups during the ensuing weekend to chart the way ahead.

“The Santacruz West neighbourhood was properly planned around a 100 years ago. It’s a residential neighbourhood with schools, crossroads, a church and grand old trees. All of this stands to be destroyed if the flyover comes here,” said Joachim Carvalho, a representative of the Khar-Santacruz West residents group and a facilitator in the campaign opposing the elevated road.

Hemal Mehta, secretary of SERA expressed similar fears. “The elevated road cuts through a garden on the east side, and it will badly affect the residential neighbourhood here,” she said.

Advocate Trivan Kumar Karnani, founder, MNCDF, drew attention to the lack of consultation on BMC’s part while planning the elevated road. “We have been demanding an east-west connector for years, but the BMC suddenly came up with this faulty plan without any citizen consultation. The flyover manoeuvres over a road that is only 9 metres wide and lined with schools, hospitals, and gardens. There seems to be a quid pro quo in it for the BMC, as they have neither taken suggestions from citizens, nor the opinion of the traffic department,” said Karnani.

Nitin Thakker, a member of SERA and MNCDF, said both organisations had been asking for an elevated road over Khar Subway for years, but they favoured the earlier plan of linking the flyover from Khar West to the western express highway directly.

In March, the Khar-Santacruz West residents, SERA and MNCDF wrote to the BMC, highlighting flaws in the current plan. They said the areas where the entry and exit ramps of the elevated road at 2nd Hasnabad Lane (North) and 2nd Hasnabad Lane (South) were located were not equipped to handle high volumes of traffic. Additionally, one of the exit ramps was located just before the Vakola metro station, which would only add to the bottleneck from the elevated road.

Alan Abraham, an architect and urban planner and Khar resident, said the burden on Khar subway was massive, as it was one of the few east-west connectors in the city as well as the most convenient route for those entering the city from the domestic airport.

“Khar subway is a misnomer,” he said. “The road is actually on ground level. It is the railway line that is elevated and passes over it.”

Abraham said the elevated road would require massive pillars that would occupy a lot of road space and add to the traffic. “A flyover will also destroy the character of the neighbourhoods and beautiful rain trees present in large numbers,” he said.

The architect said that if the BMC constructs east-west connector roads as earmarked in the development plan, they would take the burden off Khar subway at a much cheaper cost and faster pace.

“Alternatively, the BMC could also clear illegal encroachments by slum dwellers on the proposed roads of Golibar and take the elevated road through that directly connecting with the northern arm of the western express highway via its service road,” he said.” Even if the slums are cleared with compensation, it would be a much cheaper and better plan for the connector than the present one.”