The Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Road that connects Sion to Mulund and serves as an important link has seen a growing number of encroachments over the years, causing traffic jams and other problems for citizens. The Free press Journal has reviewed the situation and found encroachments at many locations along the road.
๐๐ ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐ถ๐น'๐ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐: ๐ฆ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐
RTI and social activist Anil Galgali who is well acquainted with the area said, โSeven years ago, the Bombay High Court had constituted a traffic committee that I was a part of. We conducted a survey and found around 600 encroachments on LBS road. It was decided that the BMC will remove the encroachments but the civic body is moving at a snail's pace.โ The LBS Road passes through five administration wards of the BMC โ L Ward (Kurla), N Ward (Ghatkopar), S Ward (Bhandup), T Ward (Mulund) and G-North Ward (Mahim-Dharavi) โ of which satisfactory work has been done only in N Ward.
๐๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐น ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ: ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ธ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐
According to Ghatkopar resident Vaibhav Awate-Patil, encroachments had been removed for road widening work but the illegal stalls and garages sprung up again. โA number of people consume liquor at the Chinese food stalls. It has become a headache. These stalls must be removed before any more come up. However, the BMC doesn't seem to take any action,โ he said.
๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ท๐ฎ๐บ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ต๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป & ๐๐ผ๐ต๐ป๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ก๐ถ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐น๐ฒ, ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฑ
Bunty Panjwani, a resident of Mulund, said he hasn't seen the civic authorities taking action against any illegal structures along the LBS Road. โThere are always traffic jams between Johnson & Johnson and Nirmal Lifestyle, so people avoid LBS and prefer narrow lanes. However, there are now encroachments along these narrow lanes too. Not only, illegal stalls and shops, but auto-rickshaws and other vehicles are also parked illegally,โ said Panjwani.
๐๐ ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ป
Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner of L Ward, Mahadev Shinde said, โWe have expansion plans for LBS Road. Accordingly, some illegal structures have been razed and others will be removed soon. We raze illegal food stalls on a regular basis but it would help if police action is also taken against the offenders.โ He added that the BMC take action regularly but it is difficult to control the encroachers.
Assistant Commissioner of S Ward, Sanjay Sonavane said he has already initiated stern action against encroachments in N Ward. โI assure you in the next two months I will make LBS Road free of encroachments in N-Ward (Ghatkopar). โThere were six shops of the NCP party minority cell chairman at Chirag Nagar which I got removed. Now we have served notices to shops and houses in the Swatik area near MG Road which will also be cleared in the next few days,โ Sonavane said.
