Mumbai: If you have to drive along the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) - one of the major components under the World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) - please ensure that your headlights are in perfect condition, as there are no streetlights on many stretches of the 10.3-km road.

What is even more agonising is that agencies responsible for lighting the road are simply passing the buck.

Work on JVLR began in December 2004. Motorists driving from Jogeshwari to Vikhroli still find it extremely difficult to drive on some of the patches, as the road is poorly maintained.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), is the nodal agency for MUTP, has a standard reaction when asked about the problem.

"Though MMRDA is the nodal agency, our job is limited to the rehabilitation and resettlement part of the project. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is constructing the road and hence the lighting system comes under their jurisdiction," said MMRDA spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar.

The MSRDC has a different excuse on the subject. "On many parts of the road, the median is yet to be decided. Unless that is finalised, we cannot start installing the lighting system," said MSRDC chief engineer, Subhash Nage. He added that it would take at least another month for the lighting work to begin. "We have already made the payment to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for the street lights.

They will undertake the work now," Nage told DNA.
Source : Central