The commuters who travel to and fro from Bandra railway station complained that with no alternative, they were forced to use the road; traffic chaos increased on the narrow road
Part of the Bandra East skywalk has been closed, forcing commuters
The closure of part of the 10-year-old skywalk at Bandra East for an audit, after the bridge collapsed at CSMT, has created chaos at the site, as crowds have to use the road. Many of the frustrated commuters complain that without an alternative, it was inappropriate to shut down part of the skywalk.
'Nightmare for commuters'
Sujata Argekar, 50, who works at MHADA, used to take the skywalk from Bandra station. For the past two days, she has been struggling to walk through the crowds during office hours. "It has become a nightmare for commuters to walk through the narrow road during office hours. Because of the autos and buses, it has become impossible to walk," said Argekar.
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To take the road. Pics/Ashish Raje
Following the bridge collapse on March 11, BMC has started audits of various skywalks. From Wednesday, the BMC closed down part of the skywalk starting from Bandra court to the station. Argekar asked, "The skywalk was constructed 10 years back. There are many older skywalks in worse conditions. Shouldn't they focus first on these older skywalks?"
A traffic cop in the area admitted that for the past two days, the situation was impossible to handle. To address the issue, more traffic cops were stationed. "Generally, there are 2-3 traffic cops stationed near the bridge during office hours, but two more cops have been given the duty to address the traffic here. As the bridge is closed, the crowd has to take the road which adds to the chaos, because the road is already narrow and autos also add to the confusion," said a traffic official.
Skywalk to be reopened
However, talking to mid-day, an officer from the BMC's Bridge Department said the Bandra skywalk would be reopened late on Friday night. "Considering it is an important junction that gets heavy crowds, we will open the skywalk by tonight. However, few of the other skywalks will remain closed until the audit gets over," he said.
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