Days after Mercedes accident, NHAI asked to put rumbler strips at 12 spots on NH-48

Speaking to The Indian Express, Palghar superintendent of police Balasaheb Patil said, “We have told NHAI to put rumbler strips in at least 12 spots so that the speed of vehicles automatically reduces. We have also asked them to install cats eye reflectors and signages to caution motorists.”

The police have also asked NHAI and other authorities to install CCTV cameras at every stretch on a distance of 2 km on the highway, said Patil and added that the police have also asked for cranes and a fire tender too.

He added the police have received an interim report from Mercedes on the crash. The Mercedes in which Cyrus Mistry died was being driven by his family friend Dr Anahita Pandole. “The report sent by Mercedes to us on Wednesday night said that the vehicle was well over 100 kmph and Dr Pandole applied brakes five seconds prior to the accident. When the crash took place, the vehicle was travelling at a speed of 89 kmph,” Patil said.

A Mercedes spokesperson said that the letter to the SP was an internal communication. Meanwhile, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) president and Vasai MLA Hitendra Thakur met Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Wednesday and demanded a 200-bed hospital along the highway. On Sunday, Dr Pandole and her husband Darius had to be taken to a superspecialty hospital in Vapi, 50 km away from the accident spot. Thakur also wrote a letter to health minister Dr Tanaji Sawant.

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The accident on Sunday at Kasa has brought to the fore many issues such as healthcare facilities on highways and overall road infrastructure and design.

“There is no hospital near the highway within a 30-km stretch of Vasai taluka on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. If an accident occurs on such a long highway, medical help is not able to be reached immediately. This was also noticed during Mistry’s accident,” Thakur wrote in the letter.

Dr Pandole and her husband Darius were shifted to Mumbai by creating a green corridor. A hospital source said, Darius Pandole, who is admitted at H N Reliance Foundation Hospital, has undergone a minor surgery for his forearm fixation on Thursday afternoon. “The surgery went well, he is stable and recouping. Dr Anahita Pandole is still under observation, stable and is improving,” the source said.