The Mumbai Police have requested the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to go slow on part of the construction of the country’s first monorail project, for fear that it would put the safety of terrorist Ajmal Kasab in jeopardy.

Part of the monorail is coming up on N M Joshi Marg and Sane Guruji Marg, where Arthur Road Jail is located. Kasab is lodged in the jail and is being tried in a special court on the premises.

The police have urged the MMRDA not to carry out any major work on this section. Work there would entail barricading a portion of the road while constructing the cross-section. This would lead to traffic congestion.

“N M Joshi Marg and Sane Guruji Marg are places where underground utilities are complicated and numerous. We have been requested informally not to carry out any major work at N M Joshi Marg till the 26/11 trial ends,” an MMRDA official said, on condition of anonymity.

“Since that patch has the highest number of underground utilities, we have decided to conduct a preliminary study so that we can start the work once the trial gets over,” the official added.

Underground utilities have posed problems for a number of infrastructure projects. The MMRDA and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation got into a tussle in May, after a pipeline burst during the construction of a flyover near Bharat Mata Junction.

Sources said the request to go slow would not delay the project. The police expect a speedy trial in the 26/11 case while the monorail has time to go before the scheduled commissioning of the first link (Chembur to Wadala) in November 2010 and the second (Wadala to Jacob Circle) in April 2011. N M Joshi and Sane Guruji Marg are part of the second link.

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