Mumbai civic body widens Malad West’s station road

Anand Road had an original width of 13.40 metres before it was encroached by shops

Following several appeals by local residents, the BMC has finally widened the station road at Malad West. Earlier in April, the BMC had cleared the encroachments on the road, known as Anand Road, after which work on widening it began. Work on the one-way road was completed on Saturday; it will open on Monday after consultation with the traffic police.

Anand Road had an original width of 13.40 metres, but due to encroachments of shops and other structures, only 10 metres was accessible to motorists. The area serves as a major hub for artificial jewellery and other speciality markets. The massive footfall and vehicular movement, coupled with the narrow roads, causes severe bottlenecks.

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In April, the P North Ward had demolished 19 shops and cleared an area of around 400 square metres. It helped widen the road to its original width. The total length of Anand Road is 650 metres, out of which the construction of 60 metres of the earlier encroached portion was carried out at the ward level. "We are trying to make it a two-way road, so that traffic on the connecting roads can be eased," said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of P North ward.