BMC reluctant to do soil tests for MSRDC

Deeming the possibility of creating an underpass from Haji Ali to Jaslok Hospital on Peddar Road unfeasible, the BMC is reluctant to conduct soil investigation for the MSRDC. Instead, the civic body is asking the state road development authority to conduct the investigation on its own for the 4.33-km stretch from Tambe Chowk at Girgaum Chowpatty to Haji Ali.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta said, "It is not that we are unwilling to do it, but we are asking MSRDC to conduct the soil investigation for the full stretch of the Peddar Road flyover, including the proposed underpass, since it is their project."

While MSRDC is undertaking soil investigation from Jaslok Hospital to Tambe Chowk, earlier this year, it asked the BMC to do the same on the small stretch to see if an underpass can be constructed. Senior officials in BMC's roads, bridges and traffic department said the idea for an underpass from Haji Ali to Jaslok Hospital was discussed in an empowered committee meeting based on the suggestion of Mumbai Environmental Social Network (MESN), a traffic management NGO. Senior traffic police officers have also lent support to it.

"MESN and residents had suggested an underpass for the most crowded stretch on Peddar Road. Construction of the flyover is going to cause a lot of traffic problems and hence alternatives were looked at. This pass was to connect to a flyover from Jaslok Hospital to Tambe Chowk," said a senior civic official on condition of anonymity. He added, "Since MSRDC is anyway carrying out the soil investigation for the rest of the flyover, they will be better aware of the technical dimensions of the project, such as distance between the columns. We have not even got permissions from the traffic department for the investigation, so we have not appointed consultants," he said.

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