Navi Mumbai: Unrelenting rain in July has exposed the shoddy condition of the Zion-Panven Highway artery.
And after dusk, some stretches along the highway plunged into darkness because the street lights were not functioning.
The driver was shocked on a sad state of the 10-lap, 25-km highway between Barc and Kalamboli which was put back six years ago.
TimesViewThe Zion-Panven Highway, the main connector between Mumbai and the southern countries, was renovated in 2015 at a cost of Rs 1, 230 Crore.
But the driver complains of a hole and non-functional street lights.
Apart from the high court intervention, PWD failed to solve the problem.
This problem needs to be arranged at the highest level in the government.
Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has raised interest in maintaining street lights on most roads, but the State Public Works Department (PWD) was reluctant to accept the offer because it meant that it allowed the right to the body to advertise on the highway.
Even when the Country Cabinet has agreed to a proposal to transfer the maintenance of the street lights to NMMC, PWD dragged the foot on this problem.
The city engineer NMMC Sanjay Desai said, “PWD has assured us that it will respond to our offer within a week.
Together surveys have been done and found that more than a hundred street lights did not operate.” NMMC Commissioner Abhijit Bangar said PWD must remove all power bill contributions.
Before submitting street maintenance assignments.
“I have a word higher at PWD and hopes the problem will be resolved soon,” he added.
When contacted, the Executive Engineer PWD Oomprakash Pardeshi said, “Our team is above the toes to repair a hole in a particular patch.
Offer NMMC to take over the maintenance of road lights is being discussed at the highest level because the Civic body requests the right of advertising.” Secretary of PWD Ulhas Debadwar Tell TII, “We will immediately receive a call about the road problem; is being examined by the head of the engineer concerned.” Deputy Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner (Traffic) Purushottam Karad has also written to PWD, MSRDC and MMRDA which highlight the condition of the highway and to improve lighting.