No to noise, yes to wardens ……Hemali Chhapia | TNN
Whats worse than getting stuck in a traffic jam every evening? Its the deafening noise of honking cars that follows you right into your bedroom. Residents in Dadar, Matunga, Kings Circle and Sion have been suffering the nonstop din of traffic from morning to midnight. Little wonder then, that residents have pooled in funds to sponsor traffic wardens for controlling vehicular movement.
The noise is unbearable. I feel like my house is in the middle of the road, said Priyanka Vyas.
So far, three traffic wardens have been posted by residents at the Telang Road junction, near the Shanmukhananda Hall and close to Amulakh Amichand School. The idea has gone down well and there may be more traffic wardens sponsored by residents who will be deployed in the area.
Residents had submitted a list of initiatives to the police to reduce congestion. Some have been put in place, some experiments failed and some could not take off because of political pressures. As of now, three traffic wardens sponsored by localities are also managing traffic, said resident Gaurang Damani.
But respite may be on its way. The traffic department recently asked the MMRDA to sponsor close to 200 home guards to regulate traffic in areas where flyovers are coming up. Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Harish Baijal confirmed that the request had been accepted and traffic would soon be smoother in the area. Fifty home guards will be deployed where construction activity of each flyover is on, Matunga senior inspector (traffic) Vijay Bhoite told TOI.
Construction of the Sion hospital junction flyover began early this year. Since then, half the Eastern Expressway was barricaded for construction activity, leaving a narrow area for the movement of heavy traffic. On an ordinary weekday, traffic starts backing up from 8.30 am and roads are packed way past midnight.
Traffic at the Sion flyover, which is two-way till 8 pm, eases after that as vehicles can only move north after that time. South-bound traffic takes a hit with the traffic police not permitting vehicles to turn right towards the Dharavi T-junction. All those vehicles travel till the Kings Circle bridge and then add to the snarl not just on arterial roads, but spill on to interior lanes like Bhandarkar Road. Similarly, the narrow Flank Road that runs parallel to Shanmukhananda Hall and spits out traffic on the Wadala Char Raasta, is a nightmare for residents.
There is the four-lane Bhaudaji Road which has four marriage halls, none with parking facilities. Guests line up their vehicles along that road and in Shastri Lane.
There is no respite even on Sundays. The narrow Shastri Lane houses a school that doubles up as a party venue almost every weekend, complained another resident.
While residents are being promised that flyovers will eventually bring respite to the notorious traffic snarls in their localities, the road there, they know is a rather long one.
Flyovers under construction will ease traffic flow, but till then residents will have to bear the brunt of noise pollution