17 April,2023 07:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Anurag Kamble
Mangled remains of a bus, which fell into a gorge leaving 13 dead, on Mumbai-Pune highway, near Khopoli in Raigad district, on Saturday. Pic/PTI
In eight communications over three years, the highway police of Bor Ghat alerted the government and the contractor in charge of maintaining the Mumbai-Pune highway of a deadly spot where an accident claimed 13 lives on Saturday. The cops had informed the authorities of multiple accidents at the sharp turn and suggested erecting a barrier to prevent fatal accidents.'
In the letters to Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) Pune and IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, the highway police of Bhor Ghat suggested measures that could have avoided Saturday's accident. But neither the government body nor the contractor acted on the recommendations.
Three children were among the 13 people who died when the bus they were travelling in fell 200 feet into a gorge, near Khopoli in Raigad district in the wee hours of Saturday. Twenty-nine others were wounded. The accident happened when the bus was taking a sharp turn on the old Mumbai-Pune highway (NH-48).
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They have registered an FIR against bus driver Harsh Arjun Falke, 19, for negligence. He lost control while taking the sharp turn on the hilly road and the bus crashed into a wall and fell into the gorge, he said. They are in the process of registering statements of the survivors.
The highway police sent four letters in 2021, and two each in 2022 and 2023 warning about the black spot. "This is the biggest black spot on the old highway. Many accidents have taken place at the sharp S-curve. In repeated reminders, we requested the MSRDC and IRB to fix the iron rods that were broken, and also erect safety walls and barricades," Raigad Superintendent of Police Somnath Gharge told mid-day.
The highway police sent a report to the additional director general of police (highway) on April 15, hours after the accident, and stated, "Heavy vehicles are banned on NH-48 from Pune-Lonavala towards Khopoli. We have placed warning boards, too. To avoid entry of vehicles, mounds of soil have been placed to narrow down the road, but still some vehicles take the route.
The Khopoli police said they also wrote to the IRB and MSRDC Pune following the accident, requesting to fix the black spot, but haven't received any response yet.
Highway cops suggested...
In the eight letters to IRB and MSRDC Pune, the highway cops listed actions to prevent accidents, which included redevelopment of the road, building of safety walls, and iron barricades at sharp curves.
Pointing out that the old highway has many sharp curves with slopes, the cops highway police said in the letters that "there are no strong safety barricades at the sharp curve [where the accident happened], and barricades at other places are broken. The edges of the roads require raised iron barricades so that vehicles don't fall down the hill."
mid-day contacted MSRDC chief engineer Rajesh Patil of Pune division and IAS Radheshyam Mopalwar of IRB, but both were unavailable for comment.
2021
Year since highway cops have been alerting govt
10 Jan
Day this year one of the eight warnings letters was sent to MSRDC, IRB Infra
Speaking with mid-day, Inspector Shirish Pawar of Khopoli police station said, "A passenger of the bus dialled 112 around 4.12 am and sent us the location, which helped us track the vehicle. There were no lights on the spot, so we took the help of DJ vehicles that were part of the Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations on Friday night." With the help of hiking groups, Yashwani and Sudurg, and an outfit that helps road accident emergencies, the police pulled out the survivors and the bodies within 2.5 hours, Pawar said. A few days back, a biker had fallen down the hill at the same spot, he added.
