CM asks city's civic authorities to pull up their socks and ensure cleaner open areas under flyovers
Taking a serious note of the encroachment and illegal parking under flyovers in Mumbai, the government has now decided to clean up the open space below the city’s flyovers.
What lies below: The areas under many of the city’s flyovers are being used for illegal parking, while others are sites for encroachment. File pic
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While interacting with reporters after inaugurating the LBS Marg flyover in Kurla last week, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said, “We have seen that the open space under the flyovers has been either encroached by people or is used for illegal parking. In order to solve this problem, we will ask agencies like MMRDA and MSRDC to ensure beautification of open spaces under flyovers.”
During the inauguration, Mayor Sunil Prabhu had praised MMRDA for opening new flyovers in Mumbai, aimed at solving the traffic problems in the city. However, the mayor also brought it to the CM’s notice that open spaces under many flyovers in Mumbai were being encroached upon.
“There are various flyovers in Mumbai where the open space beneath is unhygienic and not maintained properly. At many places encroachment and illegal parking is done. In order to solve this problem and make Mumbai a better city, I had requested the CM to ask civic agencies to beautify the flyovers, and I am happy that the CM has done the same,” said Prabhu.
The space below the Vakola flyover and Sion flyover on the Western and Eastern Express Highways has been used to dump old autorickshaws for about five years, while at the JVLR flyover on the Eastern Express Highway, illegal shanties have been constructed by encroachers.
Last month. MiD DAY had reported about residents of Dr BR Ambedkar Road at Matunga (E) that had submitted a proposal to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
(Residents plan to rescue Matunga flyover) The proposal was to develop a garden and a small joggers’ track on the empty space below the Maheshwari Udyan-Tulpule flyover in an effort to prevent the space from being encroached by an illegal parking lot, or being taken over by squatters.
In the past, the Mumbai police had also suggested that parking under the flyovers should be banned, as there is a possibility of explosives being placed at parking lots.u00a0
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