‘Encroachments, black spots, pose threat on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway’

A broken guardrail along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. Pics/Hanif Patel

The collector of Valsad district has slapped the project director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) with a fine for poor maintenance of roads despite several reminders, but no such action has been taken against NHAI officials in Maharashtra where about 400 road users die each year on a shoddy stretch.

The death of industrialist Cyrus Mistry in a crash on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway forced NHAI officials to install warning signs and a crash attenuator near an infamous black spot.

Streetlights are absent on several portions of the stretch

Though officials also installed attenuators at four other locations on the stretch, a few months later, a speeding car crashed into one such device on a Mumbai-bound lane near the Tansa river.

Also Read: Mumbai: The police station that slows down life in Vasai-Virar

"After the first car hit the device, it got damaged. But the NHAI did not wake up. Then another car hit the same damaged crash attenuator. The NHAI still slumbered. But after a speeding truck hit the device and it got destroyed, the NHAI officials brought a crane and removed it from the spot. The attenuator has not been replaced," said a transporter.

The damaged crash attenuator that has allegedly not been replaced

Palghar MP Rajendra Gavit told mid-day that he has been conducting meetings with stakeholders, including the police and civic and revenue officials to improve the quality of the highway. "The stretch from Versova bridge to Acchad is quite dangerous. Every year, around 400 road users die on this stretch. At several places, there are no streetlights on the highway, which is riddled with potholes," Gavit told mid-day.

"Also, there are around 27 black spots on the stretch. Both sides of the highway have been encroached upon. These are the things I have been telling the officials concerned to work on, but the NHAI officials are making no headway," he added.

"I have warned the project director of the NHAI that if the road quality is not improved, the only option left will be to file an FIR against him. If stringent action is not taken, the quality of roads will not be improved and people will continue to be killed," he added. Sushant Patil, a member of the Bhumiputra Foundation, told mid-day that there are certain patches on the highway where the street lamps were found switched off.

"Locations like Sasunavghar, Maljipada and Bafane are always pitch black as street lamps are switched off on the highway," Patil said. Another source from Palghar district said, "The other spots such as Amboli, Mendhvan and Somta on the highway are always dark after sunset." Meanwhile, Patil said, "Encroachment has taken place under flyovers but NHAI officials are doing nothing to remove them. Also, the quality of service lane approaching Versova bridge is pathetic."

Mukunda Attarde, project director, NHAI, told mid-day, "All the potholes formed during last year's heavy monsoon have been attended to and the highway is maintained in a traffic-worthy condition." He added, "Routine maintenance work such as road marking, painting of kerb, replacement of damaged/missing signboards, cat's eyes, delineator, repair of damage/missing metal beam crash barrier and pedestrian guardrails are also in progress." Attarde stated that a dedicated incident manager has been deployed to immediately attend to incidents on the highway. "Ambulance, crane, towing vehicle, etc are available at toll plazas to provide immediate assistance," he said.

Regarding black spots, Attarde said, "We had three black spots on our list, but with the help of traffic officials, we learnt about additional ones where accidents were frequently taking place. So, at present, we have installed rumblers near these spots and are working on reducing the number of black spots." He added, "Though we have been trying to mend all the glitches to improve the stretch from Dahisar to the Maharashtra-Gujarat border, road users must also be made aware of road safety rules."

The project director said, "A total of 29 accident-prone areas/blackspots had been reported by the safety auditor and 17 spots/stretches have been marked for white topping work. Six vehicular underpasses have been sanctioned and the tendering process and six spots are being rectified."

He added that site inspection for encroachment identification has been done with the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) officials, and notices for removing the encroachments are being issued.

"Encroachment removal was started on March 23 at Pelhar and the process is ongoing. Also, after site inspections, accident-prone median openings have been closed and further action suggested by the police shall be taken immediately," he added.

27
No. of black spots on the highway