Dinesh Kamath's news 'Monsoon in Navi Mumbai is horror for motorists, pedestrians and traffic unit' that was published in Newsband

Monsoon in Navi Mumbai is horror for motorists, pedestrians and traffic unit

By Dinesh Kamath

Above Pictures of potholes and traffic during rainy season

NAVI MUMBAI: In most parts of Navi Mumbai, whenever there is extremely heavy rain the motorists are the first people to face major problems owing to the roads that get damaged by the rain water. People going in or coming out of APMC markets also face a tough time when there is heavy rain, again owing to the road related problem. Advanced places like Belapur, Nerul, Koparkhairane and Turbhe too face similar problem. The residents here face a major problem during the rains.

The roads get damaged owing to the fact that sewage line is not cleaned properly. The cleaning work should have been done before the monsoon started but the authorities just did not act and the residents had to face untold inconveniences.

Traffic jams at various places in the city are another common sight during heavy rains. The places that benefit when it rains heavily are Morbe dam and Hetawane dam where the water level gets raised much to the delight of city residents.

The roads which are under repair pose problems to motorists during the rains. The repair works on roads are supposed to stop the moment the monsoon season starts. Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation does issue orders to stop all road repair works before monsoon starts. But many contractors don’t pay any heed to these orders and continue the repair work thus posing major problems to both vehicle owners and pedestrians. NMMC doesn’t even care to take any action against these contractors. Such a thing as this happens every year when the monsoon starts in the city. That’s the reason why traffic snarls become a common sight during monsoon at many places in Navi Mumbai.

Some roads where the repair works were supposed to have been done suddenly crumble when it rains heavily. The question that arises is whether the right materials were used during repair work. People who use these roads then suspect foul play by contractors and civic body. There are some roads which need to be widened but the residents and shop owners on these roads refuse to cooperate. They refuse to vacate the place and shift somewhere else thus making road-widening work impossible. When rains pour heavily in the city, the first thing noticed on most of the roads are many potholes. It is the same story every year during monsoon period. These potholes cause severe travel woes and traffic snarls. Even the city’s traffic unit finds it extremely tough to control such traffic snarls and it becomes aware of its lack of sufficient staff and equipments.

The civic body only promises to fill up the potholes. They do keep the promise many times but when heavy rain lashes the city the potholes appear once again. The question that arises is whether the civic body lacks sufficient funds to tackle problems relating to potholes which cause nightmare to vehicle drivers, pedestrians and traffic police.

Every year, during the monsoon period, it is a bumpy ride for motorists on most roads of the city. They face danger of meeting with accidents especially during monsoon period. Potholes make the roads of the city accident-prone and there is always fear of mishaps, especially lethal ones, occurring.  

Thus during the monsoon, many roads of Navi Mumbai prove to be nightmare for commuters. These roads do not fail to expose the inferior quality of work done on it by the authorities. Even the flyovers constructed to prevent traffic snarls are found full of potholes. Who is to be blamed for this? The reasons are obvious – unfinished digging up works, uneven concretization and use of inferior materials. It is high time the city authorities did the proper patch-up works on all the damaged roads in the city and save the residents, vehicle owners and traffic police of all the horrors they have to face every year during monsoon period.