With the monsoon round the corner, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has set up a centralised 24x7 control room with helplines to enable residents to alert the authority in case mishaps occur near its project sites. MMRDA engineers and officials will be manning the control room round the clock and working in tandem with civic agencies such as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the Traffic Police, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport undertaking and the Mumbai Fire Brigade.
In operation till October
The control room is located in the MMRDA office in Bandra (East) and will be in operation till the end of October. Dilip Kawathkar, Joint Project Director (PR), MMRDA, said, “The control room has been set up to minimise inconvenience to vehicular and pedestrian traffic at the MMRDA project sites. People can inform the control room if they spot potholes, uprooted trees, accidents, traffic snarls, and waterlogging. The officers at the control room will also welcome information on unusual occurrences and impending dangers.”
Mr. Kawathkar said MMRDA contractors have been installing dewatering pumps of adequate capacity to reduce the water level in areas prone to waterlogging and without storm water drains. The MMRDA will be deploying teams of 75 engineers, 150 labourers and 30 dewatering pumps at each Metro corridor.
Teams of 10 engineers and 300 labourers will be deployed to maintain the 10 crucial roads on the Western Express Highway and the Eastern Express Highway.
The MMRDA is carrying out a slew of projects in the city, including five Metro lines, the Bandra Kurla Complex-Chunabhatti connector and a flyover to connect BKC and Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
Hindrance to traffic
To cordon off Metro construction sites, the MMRDA has put up barricades on key arterial roads such as the Sion-Panvel Highway, Swami Vivekanand Road, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, and the Eastern Express Highway. The barricades encroach on almost half a lane on either side of these roads, leading to traffic hold-ups across the city.