So we have seen a lot of work being done to our roads in the past. Big machines are brought in, wide holes are made, the earth is dug up, shops and houses are demolished and road-side temples are brought down amongst much uproar.
I recently happened to realise that my favourite chinese joint, Uncles Kitchen was demolished to make way for a wider road near Mith Chowki, some 2-3 kilometres from where I stay. Now, although it has found a new ( temporary ) home just 100 metres away, I am pretty confident it wont do as much business here, as the old place.
Now, even if the government puts thousands of Rupees into road-widening ( and a million more into their own pockets ) it makes no sense. We have all seen, that most of the wide roads, no matter how wide they are, are only used to park vehicles, used as a bay-area for trucks or tempos, used for washing auto-rickshaws or taxis, used to sell vegetables and fruits, or used to build hutments. There are numerous roads that I have seen that have gone through all this. There is one road where an entire lane has been occupied by shanties after it was widened and in the peak traffic hours, there are kids that play outside and stage a hazard to themselves and to the motorists. Not only this, but these people put up tables or anything that they can find to block traffic so that it doesn’t come close to their house. 
Then there are roads which have lanes used only for the sole purpose of washing auto-rickshaws and taxis. This thing not only uses up the lane space, but also leaves the road splashed with water and oily substances. Eeekss.
Then there are the usual cases where roads are encroached upon hawkers who sell Vegetables, season fruits and other such goods.
The thing to notice here is, neither the government, the civic authrities, nor the police pay any attention to this. Nothing is done to curb this. As soon as a road is widened, it is encroached upon.
So here’s fifty paise to everyone who is responsible for this. Stop wasting the people’s money.
Comments
I have noticed one thing in our country, i.e. people think that their small action will not effect the whole country, like spitting. Here also people think that the space they are occupying will not effect all the wide roads that Government has made.
Until I become the PM(Prime Minister) of India,it will make no progress 
Specially under the control of bullshit idiot Congress
this is what we call penny wise pound foolish …
It would be better if Gov. makes a parking buildings like in US. That way much space will be free on road. But the problem is when they find any space either apartment or a commercial building will be built there.
Its not fair to blame them for widening roads. 
Blame them for not stopping enroachments. and also maybe curb the number of vehicles on the roads.
Me did not blame them for widening the roads. All that I am saying is road-widening makes no sense until they take further actions to stop all the above.
Eh? Road widening has actually helped a lot here. Bangalore is considered as the city with the worst roads. But where ever they do this road widening thing, it actually works out.
So if it were me, I’d take that 50 paise back actually. The government is doing an excellent job in making roads better. There are currently more than 20 underpasses/flyovers and there are tons more coming up/in progress. They have actually helped the city!!
Hmmm…
Again, I am not against road-widening. There have been places where it has really eased out the traffic problems. But you really need to look at it from the point of view of a Mumbai citizen.
What I am trying to say here is, Road-widening is not bad, but it doesn’t serve the purpose if the civic authorities do not curb the encroachments.
arre these politicians have something to do with all this, thats y they dont take action.
Azhar’s right. Votebank politics is the reason they don’t stop enroachments. Not to mention the fact that they would have to rehabilitate those people.
its useless… as you guys said… unless they something to rehabilitate the slum dewellers…nothing is going to change…people who live in Mumbai can take the example of the eastern and the western express roads… they are *supposed* to be 6 lanes…reduced to 4 lanes…with massive traffic snarl ups… damn these roads were supposed to ease traffic congestion…ended up in aggrevating it…dont know how it can be fixed… problem is that we indians dont have civic sense… well lets see how this all ends… mostly i think in lots of fender-benders..
I Daresay, Its a Different Story for each city.. Road Widening is welcome in Bangalore, most of the time its near impossible due to people protests, therefore mostly its underpasses or flyovers.
Oh Well.
I don’t think that wide roads are the problem really. Here is my response to your post on my blog - Are wider roads the problem really?
Illegal occupying/enroachment on road side should be banned. Making road widening depends on environment. Here in india, it lacks MAINTENANCE when new facilities are putup.
@Sid:
So rightly said. The W/E Express Highway are such a good example.
@Subbu:
True. Here, I was talking regarding Mumbai’s roads.
@KookieEater:
I never meant wide-roads were a problem. See, its like this. Even the existing roads, have all the above said elements like auto-washing, hutments, hawkers etc. Now, tell me, if the authorities just permanently clear them, won’t the cost be less rather than actually invest crores of rupees to widen roads and have the same elements occupy the road again. It really doesn’t make any sense to me.
The major problem according to me is not narrow roads but these elements that occupy the space.
But then again, not all wide roads are occupied. Some are indeed a boon.
@fred:
I don’t think it needs banning. Just some strick action and constant monitoring is enuff.
The root of the problem is enroachments. And how will you ban them? A mere ban won’t help unless it’s enforced. and as long as politicians curry votes, there won’t be any enforcing. 
Fine.
The best part is to lessen the amount of traffic on our roads. I agree with the author’s topic for the road widening doesn’t make sense - reason-again traffic gets filled up in no time as we know each year traffic growth is rising. So here we need to look at ways of reducing the need to travel as well as in reality looking at improved ways of travelling.
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