Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Cops pledge to decongest traffic at Thane station
THANE: The traffic department has assured to make few changes outside the Thane railway station to ease the congestion during peak hours. The department plans to relocate the taxi stand outside the station and also set up a 24-hour traffic chowki in the premises to man the traffic during peak hours. The police claim that they are working on several other factors which will be implemented by next week.
A review of the traffic situation at the railway station was conducted by traffic police, RTO and MLA Sanjay Kelkar.
Thane railway station sees a footfall of 10 lakh commuters on a daily basis. During the peak hours, commuters take anywhere between 20 to 40 minutes to leave the premises, as the area is not only congested but people have to spend a long time in queue to get an auto rickshaw. Most autos ply out of turns and opt for long distance fares adding to commuter woes.
Datta Kamble, deputy commissioner of police, Traffic, said, “We will be setting up a 24-hour traffic chowki in the station premises to ensure the auto drivers toe the line and do not fleece commuters. This will ensure discipline at the auto stands and the commuter waiting time at the queues will decrease. The taxi stand blocks most traffic going towards Gokhale Road. We will relocate the stand to another location so autos going out of the station are not stuck.”
After decongesting the premises, measures will also be taken to decongest the area outside Alok Hotel which is another bottleneck in the peak hours.
Kamble added, “We are working on few more suggestions in the coming days and implement it post Diwali.”
Commuters express that they spend a lot of time getting out of the station especially in the evening.
Sayali Pawar, 30, a commuter said, “If you reach Thane station around 8-8.30, there is a long queue for auto rickshaws. Most autos break the queue and poach long distant commuters. We have to wait for over 40 minutes in the queue just to get an auto. After getting into the auto too, it takes at least 10 minutes to get out of station premises.”
Apart from the auto drivers plying haphazardly, the hawkers also add to the congestion outside the station. Kelkar who did a review of the premises said that one of the problems is that there are permanent barricades along the Gokhale Road which blocks major part of the road, the traffic police can remove these barricades and make the road free for vehicular movement.
“People staying close to the station too require minimum 20 minutes to exit the premises. The auto drivers here are rude to passengers, while the hawkers block the premises. We did a survey of the area and suggested few measures which the police are working to implement,” Kelkar said.