State Transport Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil had blamed tyre manufacturers in August for the rising number of accidents on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway. Manufacturers have now said that more than tyre-design it is the overspeeding drivers who need to be checked. It is time to keep a check on quality of tyres manufactured by multinationals, Vikhe-Patil had said. While on the one hand,the Pune-Mumbai Expressway is praised by people,the number of accidents is on the rise. There is a marked rise in accidents owing to bursting of tyres. There is no system to keep a check on quality of tyres. The tyres burst because good quality tyres are ot manufactured. Since India is a big market for them,multinational tyre manufacturers are coming to India. Hence,there is a need to set some guidelines for these companies, Vikhe-Patil had said. Chandmal Parmar,chairman of the traffic and transport committee of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce,Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA),however,said that the tyre-manufacturers are unwilling to alter the designs of the tyres as this needs investment in changing tyre moulds. Accidents caused by the bursting of tyres have remained a big issue. Tyres are not made to run at a speed of 150 kmph for over an hour. On the expressway,many vehicles are run at dangerous speeds for a sustained period and the tyres burst due to overheating. Parmar,who is also the chairman of Rajashree Parmar Memorial Foundation,said ,Since the tyre companies have to change the moulding of their tyres to equip them for longer and speedier journies,the companies are not willing to do so. The lobby is very strong and powerful,which tries to put political pressure. Vikhe-Patil had also pointed out that a post-mortem of vehicles should be conducted to get to the real issues. In order to ascertain the death of an individual,an autopsy is conducted. However,after an accident,no such post-mortem of the vehicles is done. Therefore,in order to ascertain the cause of the accident,dissecting vehicles is necessary, he had said.
