Landslide near Khandala tunnel on Mumbai-Pune expressway disrupts traffic

NAVI MUMBAI: The Mumbai bound traffic on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway was affected due to a landslide near the Khandala tunnel on Saturday afternoon. Motorists going towards Mumbai had to be diverted due to the blockage.
A landslide occurred around 3 pm on the Mumbai carriageway of the Expressway. Huge boulders fell on the three lanes of the Mumbai carriageway disrupting the traffic movement.Fortunately, there was no casualty.

The Expressway traffic cops and the Lonavala police reached the spot and diverted the Mumbai bound traffic along one of the three lanes of the Pune carriageway. Traffic cops summoned heavy-duty machines to remove the boulders from the spot.
Due to the landslide, the car drivers and other LMVs will continue to be diverted via the old Mumbai-Pune highway for tonight. Only heavy vehicles like trucks, tempos and buses are being allowed to ply on the Expressway for now via the Khandala tunnel route.
A state highway patrol personnel informed TOI: "The Mumbai bound traffic has been badly affected due to the landslide near Khandala tunnel around 3.15 pm. So the light motor vehicles are being diverted from Lonavala to the old highway for today."

The boulders that had fallen on the Mumbai bound carriageway have been cleared, but the authorities are not taking any chances, and hence decided to divert the LMVs. This is the second landslide on this spot. Earlier, on June 22, several big rocks had fallen down from the hillside here, leading to a traffic jam that lasted nearly 12 hours.
On July 19, there was a fatal landslide near the Adoshi tunnel, near Khopoli, killing three persons.