Mumbai: Resurgence of appeal for a traffic free road

Mumbai: A video made by a Lokhandwala resident has gone viral. It shows a congested locality road with no space to stand and, of course, no clean air to breathe (which is obvious but can’t be seen).

This has led to the resurgence of an appeal by the residents of Lokhandwala, Akurli Road and Kandivali East to find a solution to traffic congestion in their areas which results in vehicular pollution (both noise and air) from 7 am every day.

A resident and daily commuter, LN Shashindranath, said, “I have to reach my work place at Worli daily at 10 am but have to leave my house around 7.30 am and yet I get late. In the evening, it takes me three hours to come back. The traffic chaos has become more severe since the lockdown was lifted.”

Roy Varghese, a resident of Lokandhwala township said, “Ever since the emergence of the Lokhandwala Township in Kandivali East, there have been terrible infrastructure hindrances. We want a designated hawkers’ zone, opening up of DP road to reduce the traffic on Akurli road, a police beat post and imposition of strict traffic turns while coming down from the Highway.”

“Even if we start from our home as early as 7.30 am, it takes 30-45 minutes to reach Kandivali station. It is worse in the evenings when the so-called ‘share rickshaws’ pack six in each vehicle,” said another daily commuter, Dipti Kelkar.