Majiwada Junction, situated in the heart of Thane city, is the most important junction for the lifeline of Thane. Majiwada Junction serves as a connector for the Eastern Express Highway, Mumbai-Nashik Highway, Ghodbunder Road, Old Agra Road and internal roads of Thane city.
Majiwada, as well as the Kapurbawdi Junction nearby, connect many commercial, residential, and religious sites that attract scores of people from in and around Thane. Lake City Mall, High Street Mall, Ashapura Mandir, Kapurbawdi police station are some of the places people come to visit.
However, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has built a narrow 1-1.5-metre-wide footpath from Lake City Mall (near Kapurbawdi) to Golden Dyes Junction (Majiwada). The footpath is too narrow to handle the crowd, has hawkers and shops that have encroached upon it, and is also broken at places.
Locals allege the daily crowd here is similar to the crowd visiting Talao Pali, but the TMC has failed to make a wider footpath for this 1km stretch, leaving people with no option but to talk on the main road.
The main road is used by many heavy vehicles and people sometimes got involved in accidents due to walking on the roads. The pedestrians demand that existing encroachments of footpaths be removed immediately from Kapurbawdi Naka to Majiwada naka and an eight-metre wide footpath be built from Lake City Mall to Golden Dye Junction for the safe passage of people.
Thane-based social activist Sneha Singh said, “It is very well known that Majiwada and Kapurbawdi are the important junctions of Thane, connecting Mumbai, Old Thane, New Thane, Kalyan, Bhiwandi etc. Yet there is no proper pedestrian infrastructure here. Scores of people working in commercial offices at Kapurbawdi are forced to walk on the highway due to the absence of footpaths, thus risking their lives.”
Local BJP leader Sachin Shingare said, “TMC pays every year to renovate the footpaths at Talao Pali. But since the past two decades, they have ignored the Kapurbawdi-Majiwada stretch. The civic body is not working for pedestrians at all. The existing narrow footpaths are encroached on by shops, stalls etc, as well as being used for tall hoardings while the common man is suffering. This is absolutely wrong.”
“This Kapurbawdi-Majiwada stretch is in bad shape. There are a large number of people coming here for work but the TMC is turning a blind eye to this issue. Women and children feel unsafe walking on the main road. A few days back we heard TMC's additional commissioner got the Best Smart City CEO award, but we can't see the smart city.Inthe smart city, are people forced to walk on the road,” questioned Anamika Rahane, a veterinarian from Thane.
Ravindra Wani, in charge of Kapurbawdi traffic chowkie, said, “If we see the road from Kapurbawdi to Majiwada, it is narrow without any service road. Yet, there are vehicles parked and people walking on the road, adding to the congestion. I too have requested the TMC to make a five to eight-metre-wide footpath. But sadly we haven't received any positive response from the authorities.”
Even after several attempts, TMC Additional Commissioner Sandeep Malvi was unavailable for comment.
