The traffic police today registered its first ever criminal complaint at the Vile Parle police station against V M Jog Engineering Co. for neglecting a one kilometre road length on the Western Express Highway.

``If negligence assumes a proportion of criminality affecting the citizens then we will have to step in,'' Yadav told Express Newsline

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Jog's company has been building a flyover at the Bahar cinema junction since last year. Potholes dot the service roads which the company has provided on either side of the worksite and it takes vehicles upto an hour to negotiate at peak hours.

Yadav said that bad roads not only slowed down traffic and increased fuel consumption but were also a health hazard. ``Imagine the fate of a motorist marooned in a sea of vehicle exhaust, or the slip discs and spondilitis causedby potholes.''

The traffic department had received numerous complaints from motorists about this junction. Moroever, traffic constables too had been at the receiving end of motorists' ire, Yadav said.