On Wednesday, the
BMC razed 87 homes and businesses that were in the path of the ambitious Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project. The incident occurred on the 700-meter stretch between Dindoshi's Civil and Sessions Court and Film City Marg Intersection. 161 of the 237 constructions along the area are authorized. However, the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition that the owners of 75 buildings had brought. They had raised additional objections to the HC order in the Supreme Court, but the high court affirmed. Hence, the P-North ward of the BMC prepared to begin demolition right away.
The GMLR is a nearly 12-km, five-lane east-west connector that runs from Goregaon, close to the Western Express Highway, to Nahur, close to the Eastern Express Highway. The local body has planned 4.75km and 1.6km tunnels as part of the Link Road, with the remaining 6km route to be covered by two flyovers and a 2km road that will be enlarged to maintain smooth traffic flow. The tunnels will run under Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP).
To make room for the GMLR project, the BMC razed 55 illegal constructions in Bhandup in the eastern suburbs in January. The first two phases are expected to cost $1,060 crore to finish by December 2023, according to a timeline set by the BMC. If completed, the road will reduce the distance between Mulund and Goregaon travel time to 20 minutes. According to a recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, the estimated project cost increased dramatically as a result of the time it took to get approval for the long tunnel under SGNP.
