How would you like to spend extra 5 hours with your family every single day? You must be thinking what is this all about. This thought lingers in minds of those who commute / travel from home – office – home. We wish traveling to work and back home wouldn’t be as hectic and time consuming as it is now in Mumbai. This petition is limited to road travel.

What is making commute to work and back home so miserable for us? Well, no prizes for the correct answer as most of us know the answer. Bad condition of Roads, Potholes, Traffic jams, Signals not working. You can come up with more based on your daily experience.

Distance is no longer a concern for Mumbaikars as the city has come up with multi fold options to travel. I know of people who travel from as far as Ambernath to Powai every day.

Citing my example- I travel from Malad (West) to Vikhroli (West) everyday and have 2 options to get there. One is taking the WEH, JVLR, Powai and Vikhroli and the other option is take a detour via Aarey Colony, Powai and then Vikhroli. Regardless of which route I take, the time spent is the same. Who can answer this?

As a result – on any given day a person spends an average of 2-3 hours (maybe more) in the morning hours trying to reach office and an average of 3-4 hours in the evening hours trying to get back home. The time I have mentioned may vary depending on which part of Mumbai you live and work in but averages come close to what I mention. That makes it 5-6 hours lost from a 24 hour day just in traveling EVERYDAY.

This is not about just the time but it reflects on state of affairs. Mumbai is the financial capital of the Nation and if the basic infrastructure of the city is pathetic and of menial standards, wouldn’t it impact the economy and the industry and deter the business houses or the Foreign investors from setting up or investing within the city.

The daily travel is indeed an ordeal for all and it has impacted the physical and mental health of many. From raging temper to frustration to road rage to feeling stressed. Stressed not from working but traveling to work and back home. This has adverse effect of the society at large.

The very definition of Express Highway is defeated as it takes 2 hours for a distance of not more than 20-25 minutes and max 3-4 kms – isn’t it beyond outrageous?

This petition is aimed for:

• the authorities to come forward, own the problem and provide details on why the condition is so bad

• find a feasible solution that can be implemented soon and not in the next 2-3 years

Rather than putting up baseless questions and confusing statements I would put up few simple and to the point questions, when answered will lead us in the direction we want to go.

So here they are:

Q1. Why is the quality of roads so bad that they are unable to withstand the traffic movement?

Q2. What leads to potholes and why?

Q3. What is being done to enhance the city planning in terms of traffic movement and signals?

Q4. Do we look up to developed countries on how they manage traffic? If yes, what plans are in place to replicate their best practices?

Q5. What is done to improve the quality of roads and sustainability of the quality?

At the end of the day it is taxpayer’s money that gets used and I think we have the right to understand the reasons behind bad roads and repairs are more horrible as they do not hold for more than a month. In some cases the repair work is erased in just days and the pothole is back.

All we are asking is for basic infrastructure which we deserve! The authorities and the concerned departments show absolute apathy towards this every monsoon. 

The situation on this front is getting from bad to worst by each passing day. On one side we boast of big and Hifi projects being launched and on the other side the basic infrastructure is deteriorating.

This video surfaced and went viral after a father lost his younger son who fell in a 2 feet pothole and lost his life.

https://youtu.be/_2AYxBN5Pqo

We want our Peace of Mind – we rightfully deserve it. We need to be content and satisfied knowing that the Taxes we pay are getting used towards our basic infrastructure and are aptly utilized.

We want to spend quality time with our family rather than being frustrated and feeling helpless getting stuck in the futile traffic DUE TO BAD ROAD CONDITIONS.
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Please sign my petition for better roads. If we speak up now, MSRDC and MMRDA will have to prioritize this issue and we get our time back to spend it in a better way.