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The ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance is struggling to sell a bright Mumbai infrastructure story to voters during election campaigning. The ruling combine, very keen to retain all six seats in the metropolis, is on the defensive here.
There is the monthly Rs 1.5 crore loss, due to low patronage, on the 8.8-km Wadala to Chembur monorail incurred by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), delay in the commissioning of the first phase of the metro rail and burgeoning cost of other infrastructure projects. Implementation of Rs 60,000 crore of projects is underway but at various stages.
Still, the combine has launched an intensive publicity campaign. While, the opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance has attacked the ruling combine for cost and time over-runs.
The monorail’s first phase was opened for commuters in early February this year. However, few Mumbaikars are using the air- conditioned system, resulting in a daily loss. And, the 11.4-km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar section of the Mumbai Metro-I, to have been operational by the end of last month, has missed yet another deadline, with the statutory technical body which certifies rail systems for safety being yet to pass it. The project cost has risen from the original Rs 2,356 crore to Rs 4,351 crore. Congress-NCP leaders privately admit phase-I won't be operational before April 24, when polling for the six constituencies here is slated.
Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president Janardan Chandurkar told Business Standard, “We will continue to take up Mumbai infrastructure upgradation projects while approaching the voters. The government has sincere in trying to expedite the completion. However, certain regulatory and rehabilitation issues were beyond its control. We will reply to the opposition campaign.”
More, the 6.45-km Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) has missed 12 deadlines since its work inception in 2003. The project cost has escalated to Rs 428 crore from the original Rs 115 crore. SCLR is the city’s second east-west arterial connector and will join the Western Express Highway to its eastern counterpart. It contains India’s first double-decker flyover.
MMRDA has confirmed the project is ready and would soon be operational. The ruling combine is finding it difficult to convince voters that SCLR faced innumerable court cases, besides having to resettle 3,500 project-affected families.
