Is this road jinxed?

An average of two accidents take place every week because of speeding on a stretch of road in Sector no 29, Pradikaran; residents say their repeated pleas to install speed breakers have fallen on deaf ears

With numerous accidents, which have claimed six lives in the last three months alone, taking place on a stretch of road passing through their area, the residents of Sector no 29 in Pradikaran are a scared lot. Things have become so bad that locals believe Sector 29 road, which sees an average of two accidents every week, is jinxed.


ROAD TO DEATH: A scooter rider had died in a late night accident on the
road in July as well. FILE PIC

The D Y Patil College of Engineering is on one side of the stretch and the other side has its management building besides many housing societies. The most recent death on the road was reported last week, when Mithilesh Kumar, a 19-year-old mechanical engineering student, lost his life in a late night bike accident.

'Scary'
Nilesh Naik, who has been living in the area for seven years, said, "It's a scary situation. There are accidents every week and the victims are mostly young students and locals. We have been approaching various authorities to get them to do something about the situation but nothing's working.

I think the road is jinxed.""People always speed on this road and we see at least two accidents a week. We have requested the corporator to get a speed breaker or some sort of speed control device installed, but no one listens to us.

It's very painful seeing young people losing their lives on the road. Last year, a student staying in the flat above mine lost his life in an accident here and this year, the same thing happened to a student staying in the flat below mine," said Pravin Bhoite, another resident.

Uncared for
What compounds matters is the fact that the area does not have a ward office and the police station is almost 40 minutes away. Although Akurdi Road police station is barely ten minutes away, the area falls under the jurisdiction of the Dehu Road police station, which is much farther off.u00a0

"It takes almost 30 minutes for the police to arrive on the scene if something goes wrong. We have to keep pleading for officials to come here. The lack of policemen also encourages people to speed," added Bhoite.

"Pradikaran has been under the jurisdiction of Dehu Road for a long time. The Akurdi police station has only come up recently. The fact that it comes under our jurisdicition is an administrative decision and nothing can be done about that now," said Nitin Gokave, senior police inspector, Dehu Road police station.

A guard present at the D Y Patil college premises said, "We have informed the authorities about the accidents and the necessity of a speed-breaker in front of the gate. Some instructions were issued to students but people keep speeding."

Voices
My friend lost his life on that road. We avoid going there in the night as it's very risky.
Chirag Patel, student

The college authorities called a meeting after a series of accidents and asked us to follow certain rules and regulations. They were strict about them for sometime but later nothing happened. Bhawin Thakar, Mechanical Engineering student, D Y Patil College of Engineering

I have carried so many accident victims to hospitals myself. The police neither listen to us, nor do they come to the accident spot on time. Proper safety measures have to be implemented on the road.
Sailesh Patil,restaurateur