Additional working hours may help complete Metro III on time: MMRC

AUTHORITY FEARS it would miss the deadline of May 31 for completing basic construction

Around 40 per cent of the construction work of the Metro III (Colaba-BandraSEEPZ) line is being hampered due to the restrictions in work timings. The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) fears it would miss the deadline of May 31 of completing basic construction work before the onset of monsoons due to these work hour restrictions.

As per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the basic construction work needs to be completed by May 31 in order to prevent any kind of inconvenience before the monsoon kicks in.

This includes mainly excavation, digging and piling work. In the next 190 days, this work has to be completed on the entire 33.5 kilometre stretch. Currently, the construction work is going on till 10 pm and the MMRC is following this time schedule. But due to this, instead of 4,000 working hours the MMRC is getting around 3,000 hours till May-end.

Due to opposition from citizens and as per direction from the Bombay High Court (HC) no construction work is allowed post 10 pm.

R Ramana, Executive Director (Planning) of MMRC, said, “We are obeying the court’s direction and are working till 10 pm. We are not challenging the court’s order but hope eviction of stay and relaxation of work timings.”

MMRC claimed that if they get more working hours then the project would be completed faster.

Another senior official of MMRC said, “We have the necessary manpower and machinery to complete the work within the said deadline. But time restrictions are limiting our productivity which is why we are striving to meet the May 31 deadline. It will create less inconvenience and prove beneficial to citizens if the project work is completed faster.”

Co nsidering the noise and vibrations produced due to the construction work of the metro project we feel the work should be completed as soon as possible. But, again working post 10 pm may disturb residents and cause tremendous inconvenience —A resident

Citizens have mixed opinions regarding the ongoing construction work. Pavan Sinha, a resident said, “Considering the noise and vibrations produced due to the construction work of the metro project we feel the work should be completed as soon as possible. But, again working post 10 pm may disturb residents and cause tremendous inconvenience.”