MUMBAI, March 8 -- The Ghodbunder Road stretch from Gaimukh to Kapurbawdi, part of State Highway No 84, which sees heavy traffic congestion on a daily basis, was handed over to the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) for maintenance by the state government this week. The government resolution (GR) in this regard was issued by the state's public works department (PWD) on March 5. The poor condition of this road had made deputy CM Eknath Shinde, who hails from Thane and is also its guardian minister, the target of much criticism. Vehicles would often take three to four hours to clear the stretch. Ghodbunder Road, which was a two-lane road in the 90s, was widened by then municipal commissioner T Chandrashekhar at the end of the 90s. "The two-lane service road, which was with TMC, was at a lower level than the main highway, which was with the PWD. As per the Development Plan, the service road will now be brought to the same level as the highway," said a senior officer of the Thane district administration. The chief engineer of the Public Works Regional Division, Konkan, had requested the administration to transfer the 10.5-km stretch, which currently falls under the PWD, to the TMC, since the road lies within the latter's jurisdiction. The TMC passed a consent resolution, stating that it was ready to accept the transfer. The file was then sent to the state government. All of this happened in August 2025. The Thane-Ghodbunder State Highway No 84 was developed during 2000-01 by the MSRDC under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model. After the toll period for the road ended on February 23, 2021, the road was handed over by MSRDC to the PWD, which could not maintain it for lack of funds. After the transfer of the road is done, the maintenance and repair expenses will be funded by the TMC, and the government will not provide any additional grant for maintenance or repairs of the road. The GR also says that the responsibility of removing encroachments on the road will rest with the TMC. Citizen activist Dayanand Nene said, "There was no quality control on maintenance jobs. Up until the Covid pandemic, this road was always good. Once the toll stopped, it went to seed. The authorities tried many different ways to repair the stretch but nothing worked."...