18 May,2017 05:58 PM IST | Mumbai | PTI
Expressing concern over frequent accidents along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Congress MLC Anant Gadgil urged Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis to take urgent steps to ensure prevention of mishaps and loss of lives on the high-speed stretch
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway has several accident-prone areas
Expressing concern over frequent accidents along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Congress MLC Anant Gadgil has urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to take urgent steps to ensure prevention of mishaps and loss of lives on the high-speed stretch. In a letter to the Chief Minister this week, Gadgil said the high speed of vehicles, violation of traffic rules like heavy vehicles including trucks not taking the stipulated left lane were among the reasons for the spate of accidents.
"The speed per hour should be 80 km on the Expressway but majority of the vehicles take 100 to 120 km per hour. The traffic police have only three speed guns and most of the time they are non-functional. There is no traffic police on the Expressway to stop the over speeding vehicles," he wrote. The MLC claimed that 300 deaths were reported last year on the Expressway.
The legislator said according to the information he got from the Traffic department, each shift has 12-14 traffic constables out of which 3-4 are on leave every day. But at the help desk near the Khalapur-Kamshet toll naka, there are 15-20 traffic constables on duty. Most of them are busy stopping vehicles to harrass people by penalising them unneccessarily.
He said heavy vehicles should be in the left lane but near the Amrutanjan bridge, most of the heavy vehicles take the centre and right lane and the accidents happen when the other vehicles try to overtake heavy vehicles. Gadgil said he has got information that 300 people died last year on the Expressway and now if traffic regulations are not done, the number of deaths will increase.
