BMC bars events at Goregaon ground till Metro 7 work is over

MUMBAI: With the Western Express highway being a chock-a-block through the day, the BMC has told the Bombay Exhibition Centre (Nesco) at Goregaon East not to host any event on its premises from now till the completion of the Andheri-Dahisar Metro construction along the highway. The civic body said traffic congestion gets worse in the area on days when events are held at the centre.
This is the second major public event venue of Mumbai to become temporarily out of bounds owing to transport infrastructure projects— the other one is the MMRDA Grounds in BKC, which has to make way for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train terminus and Metro II-B (D N Nagar to Mandale).

The vehicular speed near the exhibition centre on WEH often dips below 10kmph during peak hours, even since the Metro construction began. Joint commissioner of police (Traffic) Amitesh Kumar said, “During big exhibitions, the footfall in the area increases drastically and situation becomes very bad. A large number of vehicles enter the exhibition centre, but there is a shortage of parking space on their premises, and this adds to the traffic on the road. We have written to Nesco and BMC about it.”
Work on the 16-km elevated Metro 7 is expected to be completed by 2019, which means that the city’s biggest exhibition venue, that regularly sees delegates from across the globe, will not be able to host any event for more than a year. At least nine exhibitions have been scheduled at the centre from Monday till September end.
When contacted to get their view, Nesco representatives refused to comment on the BMC directive, only saying that a meeting of senior executives has been called on Monday to discuss the issue.
According to a source, Nesco has written to event organisers allaying their apprehensions that they will sort out the issue with the BMC, and that the civic body’s decision would not affect the event scheduled to start on August 29.
Assistant municipal commissioner Chanda Jadhav said, “We have told Nesco not to hold any event henceforth till the ongoing Metro work is completed.”
Event organisers reacted strongly to the sudden decision and said it would hamper their businesses and will affect country’s image. Krunal Goda, an industry professional, said, “The traffic problem has existed for a long time, but they have not been able to find a solution. We have planned an event after taking all permissions from different government authorities.
People from across the world are scheduled to attend the event. Now the last minute cancellation will affect our business and image.” The MMRDA, which is constructing the Metro line, said it is taking all precautionary measures to ensure traffic is not affected. “We are implementing whatever suggestions are given by the traffic police, including providing more wardens for traffic management and road diversions,” said MMRDA PRO Dilip Kawatkar.