Maharashtra: NHAI officials change tune in 24 hours

A driver transporting a container could not notice the damaged speed attenuator near the Vaitarna river bridge in the pre-dawn hours of Friday and crashed right into it. Pics/Hanif Patel

Last year, the NHAI installed four crash cushions, for the first time ever, following the death industrialist Cyrus Mistry on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. But, the recent damage to three devices revealed its short-sightedness in dealing with repairs. Officials, who were reluctant to even touch these owing to "high cost", hurriedly removed the one on the Surya river bridge on Friday, a day after mid-day questioned them about the threat to transporters.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials had installed crash attenuator or crash cushion at four spots on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. The one on the Surya river bridge, where Mistry died in September, was damaged in the wee hours of Thursday. "It got damaged after a mini tempo rammed into it around 2.15 am on Thursday," said a source. However, no injuries were reported in the accident. A team of highway safety police barricaded the damaged impact attenuator using a warning tape.

In Photos | Mid-Day impact: NHAI officials swing into action, change damaged attenuator in 24 hours

1 year agoPHOTO GALLERY

The broken attenuator at the bridge near Tansa river has been placed on the median

At the spot, mid-day spoke to some of the transporters and motorists, who shared concerns about the threat the damaged attenuator now poses to them, especially at night. "It can cause major accidents if not removed or repaired immediately," a transporter from Dahanu told mid-day. This particular spot is even dangerous, as the three lanes of the highway merge into two, some of them pointed out.

Also Read: Thane: Property row main reason for dubbing sane people mad

When mid-day contacted Sumeet Kumar, the NHAI manager for Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, on Thursday to enquire about the removal of the damaged attenuator, he said, "It can't be repaired in-situ as the stretch is too busy. And the maintenance department told me that if it's removed from the spot for repair work, the cost will be too high."

When mid-day contacted Project Director (NHAI, Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway) Suhas Chitnis to know the conditions of four speed attenuators, he said he was not aware of anything. "I have recently taken over the charge as project director and hence I am not aware of it."

‘Repair work soon'

However, a day later, when this correspondent approached Kumar again to know whether transporters' concerns will be taken into consideration, he informed that the broken device has been moved away from the site. "We have removed the damaged attenuator from the Surya river bridge and kept it near the toll naka," Kumar said on Friday. The two other devices that have been damaged are on the bridge over Vaitarna and Tansa rivers. The NHAI officials have not removed the mangled remains from these spots, however. The Tansa bridge impact cushion, according to sources as well as an official, was damaged about 20 days ago.

The damaged crash cushion on the Surya river bridge, where Mistry died, was removed on Friday

"The attenuator installed near the Tansa river bridge got damaged around 20 days ago, but it has been placed on the median, away from the highway. I have no details of the speed attenuator installed near the Vaitarna river bridge, but it's faceplate was damaged," Kumar added. "The cost of each speed attenuator is around R6 lakh and the repair is around R1 lakh. At present, I am occupied with meetings, but the repair work will start from Tuesday or Wednesday," he said.

Mishap at Vaitarna spot

A driver transporting a container could not notice the damaged speed attenuator near the Vaitarna river bridge in the pre-dawn hours of Friday and crashed right into it. "The container toppled, but thankfully, no injuries were reported. This could have been fatal though. We request the NHAI to either repair or remove it. The damaged speed attenuator poses a threat to us," said a transporter.

After mid-day highlighted the faulty road designs and the absence of safety or warning signs ahead of Surya river on the highway, where the three lanes merge into two, taking motorists on the high-speed stretch by surprise, the NHAI officials installed the first speed attenuator at the black spot. It was installed three months after the death of Mistry, who was returning from Gujarat.