The BMC has made it clear that the only way to fix the road is to repair all of it, which officials claim can only happen when the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project begins
Motorists who were hoping that the BMC would get around to repairing the hundreds of potholes on Aarey Colony Road are in for a long wait. The BMC has made it clear that the road will only be repaired once the construction of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) begins.
In October, the BMC brought workers and machinery to Aarey Colony, but they only repaired the stretch between Marol and Picnic point. File pic
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The issue was discussed on Tuesday, during a meeting between the corporation, the Aarey Milk Colony CEO and the local police. A government official, who was part of the meeting, told mid-day that officials from the Aarey CEO’s office and the police requested the BMC ward office to repair the potholes on the road on a priority basis.
However, BMC officials said that the only way to fix the road would be to repair the entire stretch, which would happen when the civic body widened the road to accommodate the GMLR. It should be noted that the corporation had taken over Aarey Colony Road from the CEO of Aarey Colony Complex in August, assuring residents of immediate repairs.
Months have passed, but the civic body is yet to fulfil its promise. “After the road was taken over by the BMC, we had repaired the road a few times, but that did not help much as the condition of the road is very bad and potholes crop up soon after we repair them.
The motorists will have to travel through the potholes till the time the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road gets ready, as that is when the entire road will be repaired,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner SVR Srinivas.
Over a month ago, this newspaper had reported (Finally, BMC begins repairs on Aarey Colony Road, that the BMC had started repairs on the stretch from Marol towards Picnic point, close to the construction site of the upcoming Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro III.
While that stretch has been repaired, the civic body failed to do the same on the stretch with the worst potholes between the Western Express Highway and Picnic point and Royal Palms.
Local residents are now alleging that this was done on purpose that the BMC only repaired the Marol stretch to ensure a smoother ride for MMRDA officials and vehicles visiting the Metro project’s car depot site.
Imran Udat (31), who has been staying in the colony since birth, said, “I personally feel that the road between Picnic point near the Metro car depot site and Marol was repaired on priority so that government officials and trucks don't have to face problems while going to the site.
If the BMC was concerned about the public then it would have repaired the stretch between Western Express Highway and Aarey market, as the potholes on this stretch cause huge inconvenience to motorists.”
Another local resident pointed out that while everyone was talking about the GMLR, no one was asking about the many internal roads inside the colony that also desperately needed repairs.
“Aarey Milk Colony has a huge network of internal roads which connect to important junctions, but no one is repairing them,” said the resident, who manages a local cowshed.
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