Work on the Rs 140 crore project, designs for which are ready, will begin in December this year. The six-lane viaduct, the first and longest of its kind in the country, will provide an alternative to the thickly congested Peddar Road.

Residents under the aegis of the Tardeo Gamdevi Protection Committee set up last fortnight are opposing the viaduct for the disruption it will apparently cause.

``An automobile pipeline running through the heart of a residential area will not be tolerated in any part of the world,'' says Madhu Shetye, president of the association. He reasons that 1.40 lakh motor cars will pass through this viaduct drastically endangering the health of the residents with noise pollution and automobile exhaust.

``Over five lakh residents will suffer for the convenience ofone lakh motorists.'' However, MSRDC's Managing Director R C Sinha says that the PWD minister Nitin Gadkari would soon hold a meeting with the residents to discuss their grievances.

``We don't think all the apprehensions being raised are justified, after all viaducts have been successfully built in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Kuala Lampur.'' Look at the advantages, we are adding a six-lane road to the existing road, speeding traffic movement and reducing congestion, he reasoned.

The viaduct is part of the MSRDC's clutch of 50 flyovers which are to ease traffic in the island city over the next few decades.

Residents, however, say that they were never consulted while the project was being planned, even though the law dictates that the public be notified to give in their objections to any project that has a bearing on them.

The committee feels that the road, which will be built on pillars some 27-feet above the existing road, will result in some of the balconies of adjacent buildings in being knockeddown.

They have relied on a study prepared by architect and town planner Uday Nadkarni which has stated that the project will severely affect residents in the area.

The viaduct's supporting columns which will be placed rather haphazardly to avoid the BMC's pipelines and the MTNL and BEST's underground cabling, will disrupt traffic.