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Journalism of Courage
Enraged residents living in and around the Navale Bridge area held a ‘Dashakriya Vidhi’ or post-death rituals on Saturday to protest against the authorities’ “continued negligence” in ensuring the safety of motorists using the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway. They threatened to block the highway stretch if strong safety measures are not implemented in the next 15 days.
“The Navale Bridge stretch has become an accident-prone zone. This is Maharashtra’s number three accident-prone stretch and Pune’s number one. Nearly 100 people have died here. Despite such loss of innocent lives, the government and officials continue to turn a blind eye to the safety of travellers,” a local resident said.
The residents demanded that the authorities build an elevated road on the stretch. “Besides, they should reduce the steep downhill slope right from the New Katraj tunnel to the Navale bridge. The steep gradient is causing brake failure in vehicles, leading to accidents. The current gradient is 4 per cent, which should be reduced,” said Nikhil Davhale, a protesting resident, adding that the ‘Dashakriya Vidhi’ was held close to the spot where the accidents were reported.
On November 13, eight people lost their lives when a container truck hit several vehicles close to the Navale bridge. Among the eight victims, five were the occupants of a car that caught fire.
A local resident said that immediately after the accident, they had staged a protest. “This is our second protest. If no strong measures are taken, then we will block the highway,” a protester said. The stir was carried out by local activists, including Bhupendra More, Rajendra Jadhav, Latif Shaikh and Harish Vaidya.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant said on Friday evening that Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will soon visit the Navale Bridge area to take stock of the situation. “The Navale Bridge area is witnessing accidents because of the high speed of vehicles, the design of the road, and the steep downhill slope on the stretch. There is a pressing need to implement safety measures so that such accidents do not recur. It is necessary to increase manpower, set up a brake testing zone and notice boards. Eknath Shinde will soon visit the spot,” he said.
Samant said the Mahayuti government was committed to finding a permanent solution to the accident-prone stretch. “The steep gradient is a major problem on this stretch… We will find a permanent solution to this problem. We will implement safety measures in two stages. First, immediate safety measures will be implemented and then long-term measures,” he said.
