Indian Express 05.05.2010
Thane monorail runs into municipality wall: civic leaders say alignment wrong
PrashantRangnekar Tags : corporation, corridor, planned Posted: Monday , Apr 05, 2010 at 0427 hrs
Pune: The proposed Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan monorail corridor, planned as a quick link between the far suburbs and the city, has run into opposition from Thane’s Shiv Sena corporators, and the issue is likely to rock the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) when it comes up for discussion before the elected body this month.Sena corporators are unhappy with the alignment. Also, with civic polls due next year, they do not want any further digging of roads within city limits, especially in areas that are already congested and see regular traffic pile-ups.
The project is being undertaken by the Congress-controlled Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Under the proposed alignment, the monorail will start at Thane (East) near the station and then cross the railway tracks towards the west before heading to Teen Haath Naka, and from there on through the congested Hari Niwas Circle, Meenatai Thackeray Chowk, Golden Dyes and the Kapurbavdi junction, TMC city engineer K D Lala said.
The Station Road areas at Thane East and West are heavily congested and cannot take any further load. Bringing the monorail here would aggravate the problem. Already, the MMRDA’s skywalk project has reduced the road width near Thane East,” said Pandurang Patil, Shiv Sena corporator from Kopri, also the Leader of the House in the TMC.
“Instead, they should start the monorail from near the Thane Mental Hospital that has enough land to accommodate the project. From there, we can start a bus service for Thane and Mulund.”
Shiv Sena corporators and MLAs from Thane district have been insisting on this alternative alignment.
Another TMC engineer said, “Though the MMRDA claims the monorail would be elevated and consume less space, the Station Road in the east still will not have that much space. And even if it is an elevated structure, they don’t seem to have a proper plan for the vehicular traffic under it.”
The MMRDA, on its part, maintains this is a feasible proposal. “The monorail has to have connectivity to a suburban railway station. We had proposed starting the monorail from Gokhale Road in Thane West, but the TMC was not in favour of that, as the area was already congested. The TMC has to let us know and pass a resolution in the House,” said Ashwini Bhide, joint metropolitan commissioner.
Another bone of contention is that the monorail project clashes with four proposed flyovers, to be built by the municipal corporation. “As per our plan, four flyovers are proposed at MG Road junction, Hari Niwas Circle, Meenatai Thackeray Chowk and Kapurbavdi junction,” said Lala. “All these flyovers are essential for the decongestion of the city as per a study done by the TMC.”
The TMC wants to go ahead with the flyovers but will be expected to drop at least one of them if the MMRDA pushes through its monorail project.
