To accelerate the ongoing construction of Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) P-South ward (Goregaon) on Friday cleared 35 encroachments that were obstructing the project. The encroachments were razed, making way for a flyover that is part of the Mumbai civic body's ambitious project.
The encroachments were on a 2,240-meter stretch on the south of General Arun Kumar Vaidya Marg and west of Filmcity Road in Goregaon. Of this, 2,150 meters have been cleared.
As a result of this action, the space on the west side of the 210-meter long road has been made available for widening. The construction of cement concrete and asphalting the road, as well as rainwater harvesting in this area will be started immediately by the GMLR unit.
According to the BMC, the GMLR project will be important to alleviate traffic congestion in the eastern as well as western suburbs. The civic body has allocated Rs 1,600 crore this year for the project, which has slowed down due to encroachments. The civic body had then identified a total of 101 encroachments.
In the first phase that was undertaken two years ago, the civic body managed to clear 52 encroachments on General Arun Kumar Vaidya Marg. However, there was a delay in removing the remaining 49 structures.
"Following instructions from BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal and additional municipal commissioner (projects) P Velrasu, we took that matter on priority on Friday," said a senior BMC official, adding that the remaining 14 will be cleared at the earliest.
