A skywalk meet

Members of the Chembur Merchant Association held a meeting recently at Jewel of Chembur to discuss the details of the new development projects in the suburb of Chembur, namely the monorail and skywalk.

Interestingly, the monorail project which was supposed to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister at Gandhi Maidan was called off following the terror attacks. Ironically, when it comes to the details of the monorail, the citizens including the merchants of Chembur are clueless — hence a meeting was called to discuss the matter in detail.

In the words of Ashok Sharma, joint secretary of the association, “We wanted to get a detailed plan along with the map and the route of the monorail. Likewise construction of a skywalk is a hot topic as many residents from various other suburbs have objected to the construction of a skywalk. Only after getting the details we can discuss whether the same will affect the shop owners or not,” he stated while speaking to CG Plus on the purpose of organising such a meet.

Laxman Kothari, the president of the association also expressed the same view. “Chembur is poised for major development but nobody is aware of the exact plan we only know that a monorail will pass via the suburb of Chembur. However, details like whether there is a need to build a new station, the route of the monorail or the exact location of skywalk are not known,” he revealed.

Chadrakant Handore, minister for social justice who graced the occasion as the chief guest promised to supply all the relevant information relating to these two major projects. Speaking on the occasion, Handore touched upon other developmental projects like the underground drainage system and the development of the parks in the suburb.

He also acknowledged the delay in completing the Sandhu garden and promised to complete it soon.
AGNI activist Rajkumar Sharma updated CG Plus team on the latest information he had on the monorail and skywalk. Earlier the monorail was supposed to be operational from Chembur station up to Mahul. As per the revised plan it is now from Jacob Circle up to Chembur station.

Sharma however feels the Tembe flyover is an obstruction to the project. He also opines, “Building pillars on the already congested NG Acharya Marg for the monorail is also not feasible.” Moving on to the skywalk project

Rajkumar Sharma maintains that the NGO Chembur First had submitted a proposal to the MMRDA to construct a skywalk from GM Link Road with landings at Lokhande Marg, Thorat Marg and Chembur station. The skywalk which would end at NG Acharya Marg would also have a link to the subway at Chedda Nagar. However, he claims that he has not heard a word on this matter.

Meanwhile, ordinary taxpayers are left wondering why the details of such an ambitious project which was to be inaugurated by the PM of the country is not made available to the public.