09 November,2010 07:14 AM IST | | Ranjeet Jadhav
What took 20 minutes to get from Versova to Andheri station now takes 90 mins, thanks to ongoing Metro rail work
Getting from Versova to Churchgate should take lesser time than reaching Andheri station.
At least, residents say it takes them a good 90 minutes on an average to reach the station.
Blame game
And they blame it on the ongoing construction work on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro rail corridor.
A week ago, MMRDA started construction work of the Metro station near Metro car depot at DN Nagar.
In February 2008, barricades had been put in the middle of the road to erect pillars for the Metro route.
Now, the barricaded road had to be further fenced off, creating a major bottleneck for vehicles moving on the JP Road.
This has caused untold inconvenience to motorists as vehicles take nearly 90 minutes to plod through traffic during peak hours.
Commuters speak
"The road near Manish Nagar has been barricaded as the station is being built. The situation will worsen in the coming days because the width of the road has been reduced drastically due to barricades. Besides, there are no traffic policemen to regulate traffic on this stretch," said Melroy Joseph (27), Four Bungalow resident.
Echoing the same views were Hemant Haria (40), who drives all the way to Andheri station everyday from SVP Nagar.
"It takes me more than 90 minutes in the evening to reach home because traffic moves at snail's pace. Often, traffic policemen are not present at the site. Now with stations coming up on the stretch, the situation can worsen. The traffic jams are a result of poor planning."
