The curse of Andheri traffic hits dumper now

Traffic snarls in city’s largest suburb worsen after dumper turns turtle rupturing key storm water drain

MUMBAI: Citizens of Andheri, Mumbai’s largest suburb, are likely to have a rough run on the road in the days ahead. After the closure of Gokhale Bridge, a spot on the lane near Tiwari Chowk, in Andheri East, has been barricaded as an overloaded dumper ruptured the cover (3.5 meters by 3.5 meters) of a storm water drain on Saturday morning.

The road leads to the Andheri Subway. The subway witnessed heavy traffic, after it was chosen as one of the alternate routes for east-west connectivity in the suburb, following the closure of Gokhale Bridge. Since the closure of the bridge, this route faces heavy traffic snarls throughout the day.

Soon after the dumper sunk into the manhole, the area around Tiwari Chowk witnessed traffic snarls, which sustained till the vehicle was removed.

An official from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) K East ward said, “The road has very heavy traffic hence the work on the cover cannot happen on site. We have started the fabrication work of the new cover elsewhere and once it is ready, it will be fixed here. It will be able to take thrice the load compared to the previous one. It had ruptured as the truck passing over it was very heavily loaded.”

The civic body will take two to three days to complete the job. A design consultant has been brought in to ensure the new cover is able to bear the load of heavy traffic.

Residents of the area, an already nervous lot following Gokhale Bridge’s closure, are now bracing themselves for yet another challenge -- to negotiate traffic over the next few days.

Dhaval Shah, founder of Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association, said, “Andheri Subway is of paramount importance, now that Gokhale Bridge is shut. Such incidents of a large metal cover over a nullah caving in is very serious, as it may have led to the road also breaking or caving in, leading to this route being shut for weeks. Movement of heavy vehicles must be restricted here with a

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VIJAY BATE/HT PHOTO An overloaded dumper ran on the storm water drain, cracking its cover (below). This spot on Tiwari Chowk has been barricaded (above).