Navi Mumbai: Thousands of Belapur residents including school-going children of Ekta Vihar, the central government employees' colony, Nilgiri Gardens CHS and adjacent buildings are facing sleepless nights after Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) authorities removed old speed breakers and replaced them with rumblers.

There is continuous passage of heavy vehicles including big containers along this stretch that goes towards JNPT and Uran Phata. As per residents, the rumblers have been ineffective in reducing the speed of vehicles thus aggravating the unbearable noise of the containers.

As a result, school-going children, residents and pedestrians find it unsafe to cross the road. The critical components such as marking strips zebra crossings and blinking signals are also missing. The issue of road safety hazards is not being looked upon by NMMC.

Residents say that the rumblers installed are not safe and demand the NMMC to reinstate the height of the original speed breakers near the main gates of both colonies to ensure the safety of the people residing in those areas.

The Secretary of the Central Government Employees Residents Welfare Association Ekta Vihar CGS Colony, CBD, Belapur Anuj Kumar Pandey says he has already met Sajay Patil, Deputy Engineer of NMMC on several occasions and briefed him on the hazards being faced by the residents but rued “there hasn’t been any fruitful outcome”.

Residents hope that the NMMC authorities will take immediate steps and ensure the safety of the residents in order to avoid any untoward incident.