Red tape holds up widening of Mumbai-Pune highway

PUNE: Bureaucratic hurdles and red tape between the Khadki Cantonment Board and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) seem to be indefinitely delaying the much-needed road widening on a hazardous stretch of the Mumbai-Pune highway at Khadki.
Meanwhile, people continue to loose their life and limbs to accidents as happened on June 4 when two persons were killed and two others injured in an autorickshaw-bus collision that happened in the stretch between Khadki railway station and Dapodi chowk of the old Pune-Mumbai highway.
While minor mishaps have become a regular feature on the highway stretch, the June 4 deaths served as yet another reminder for urgent road widening outside the Khadki railway station.
While police blame the mishap on wrong over-taking by the autorickshaw, commuters say that the failure of the authorities to widen the road was responsible for the accident.
Arun Godbole, assistant engineer, Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB), told TNN that the land along the Pune-Mumbai highway belongs to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the KCB is awaiting a "no objection certificate" from the NHAI to undertake road-widening.
"If we seek to take over the land, it becomes a matter between the defence ministry and the ministry of road transport and highways, which will take time. We are nevertheless pursuing the matter," he said, explaining the cause for the delay in widening the road. He said that in fact, the number of accidents had reduced drastically after the KCB widened the carriage width to 7 m, six years ago.
Vinod Pillay, a commuter who frequents the road told TNN that its not just the road is narrow but it has a lot of potholes and this makes driving a nightmare on the road.
"Mishaps have become common feature and apart from the highway traffic the commuters coming from Dapodi and Khadki area also add to the chaos," he added.
Sushil Shinde, another commuter said the stretch is more dangerous during night and if the authorities do not repair it immediately then more mishaps are bound to happen. "A road divider should be fixed up immediately," he said pointing out that simple solutions could help avert major disasters.
Prakash Desai, another commuter said the situation could worsen during the monsoons. "The authorities also need to work out a concrete plan as heavy vehicles like ST buses and trucks are usually drive through the stretch with high speed and there needs to be speed limit which should be imposed," he said.