Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde held an urgent meeting with the police, transport and public works department officials on Saturday and instructed them to take measures in view of the increasing traffic congestion in Thane city.
CM Shinde, while giving instructions to complete the ongoing development works in Thane city before June 1, also ordered to make roads free of potholes and traffic jams.
The meeting was held at Shinde's residence in Thane where collector Ashok Shingare, police commissioner Jai Jeet Singh, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) commissioner Abhijit Bangar, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) joint managing director Anil Kumar Gaikwad, additional police commissioner Dattatray Karale, Dr. Punjabrao Ugle, deputy commissioner of traffic department Vinay Rathore and other senior officials were present.
'Fill all potholes immediately'
Before the onset of monsoon, the CM gave instructions to the concerned agencies to fill the potholes on all the roads in the city.
Shinde told officials, "Fill the potholes on the road immediately without considering who owns it. Development works are currently going on in many places in the MMR area and it has put a lot of pressure on the city of Thane, as a result of which there is a traffic jam in places. Also measures should be taken to avoid any trouble to the citizens during the rainy season.
Shinde said, "60 percent of the ongoing work on Bhiwandi-Kasheli road through MMRDA has been completed and this work should be completed before monsoon. The roads in Bhiwandi city which are bad should be repaired immediately through MMRDA. Also the ongoing road work on the Mumbai-Nashik highway through MSRDC should be completed before the monsoon to break the deadlock on the Saket-Kharegaon bridge.
BMC told to solve traffic woes in Thane
Instructions were given to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal for immediate repair of the pipeline road and bring it to good condition immediately so that the traffic jams on the Thane-Nashik highway and Kalher to R.C.Patil road should be avoided.
At present, the traffic is being diverted due to the ongoing work on the Mumbra bypass road. Due to this, the traffic jam has increased. While expediting the work of Mumbra Bypass Road, CM also directed to plant trees between its bifurcations and beautify both sides with bamboo in a modern manner.
In view of the stress on the work of traffic regulation in the city for the next month, Shinde also directed that the TMC and PWD should provide additional traffic wardens to the traffic police and call for additional police officers from Mumbai.
Other instructions given by Shinde
The public works department has taken up the work of side strips on Gaimukh-Waghbeel road on Ghodbunder road under the jurisdiction of TMC and he instructed that it should be completed in time and both service roads and highways on Ghodbunder road and East Expressway should be put into use. The CM also directed to stop the use of service road for parking and take action against the vehicles and also to use the vacant spaces of Kharegaon toll plaza and zakat nakas along East Expressway for parking of buses, trucks and school buses.
Eknath Shinde while warning the officials said, " The poor quality work will not be tolerated under any circumstances while completing the works, even a small pothole falling on the road during the rainy season is fatal, so it will be the responsibility of the officials of that department to ensure that there are no potholes on the roads under their jurisdiction. Strict action will be taken against the concerned officials and contractors if laxity or neglect is found."
