Vashi: Colourful by the day and blind by night. Even as every nook and corner of Navi Mumbai under the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is getting a new look as part of the preparations for the Cleanliness Survey, the defunct streetlights from Vashi toll plaza to Belapur along the Sion-Panvel Highway are posing a serious risk to lives of motorists, who have to drive intuitively right after crossing the toll plaza.
Navi Mumbai, famous for its well-illuminated and broad Palm Beach Road, besides regularly maintained inner lanes and flyovers, is preferred by homebuyers for being a planned city. However, the experience of citizens who take the Sion-Panvel highway every day to commute to and from Mumbai is marred by low visibility after sunset.
Residents and motorists that the Free Press Journal spoke to said the situation has been the same for the past two years, during which concretisation work of the highway has been undertaken and finished. Officials from the NMMC said earlier the Public Works Department (PWD) was in charge of maintaining the streetlights and other electricity-related works along this stretch.
"There is low visibility due to non-functional lights soon after I cross the toll plaza in Vashi. The sudden darkness makes driving a challene", said Sunil Ramakrishnan, resident of Vashi.
Sunil Ramakrishnan, resident of Vashi |
"The stretches near Vashi toll plaza and LP Junction to Uran Phata are very dangerous due to poor visibility", said Dinesh Jogi from Ulwe.
"Now that the roads have been repaired I hope the lights are restored, said Sachin Gupta, from Airoli.
Sachin Gupta, resident of Airoli |
"It is dangerous to ride my motorbike as heavy vehicles are passing by all the time. The situation only gets worse due to defunct streetlights," expressed Sumesh Rajan, a resident of Nerul.
Sumesh Rajan, a resident of Nerul |
In December 2021, the PWD transferred the maintenance works to the NMMC and also paid Rs 8 crore for the work. NMMC chief Abhijit Bangar clarified that despite the fact that maintenance work was being carried out by the PWD, the civic body of the satellite city has to face public wrath.
He said, “Defunct streetlights along the Sion-Panvel Highway in the Navi Mumbai area have been a common problem and motorists often turn to the local body with complaints.” Bangar added that the civic body has now floated a tender for the work and will finalise the contractor in a week, with repair work of all streetlights starting very soon.
He said, “The entire restoration process will be completed within three months. We will not only just illuminate, we will also give the stretch an aesthetic look by installing designer street poles.” As per the agreement between the PWD and the NMMC, all streetlights, transformers, electrical systems and electricity metres on the highway from Vashi toll plaza to Konkan Bhavan in Belapur will be maintained by the NMMC. Bangar added that citizens are unaware of who maintains the illumination along the stretches passing in the NMMC’s jurisdiction and often blame the civic body. “That is why the civic body insisted on handover of the maintenance works,” he said. In addition, the maintenance of four pedestrian underpasses along the Sion-Panvel Highway – two at Nerul and two at SBI Colony – have been transferred to the NMMC for Maintenance and repair
