The 'S' shape turnings near Khambatki ghat section has witnessed several road mishaps over the years.
A preliminary investigation into the road mishap near Khambatki ghat section which claimed 18 lives on Tuesday morning has revealed that the driver was over speeding at the difficult 'S' shape stretch of the Mumbai- Bangalore highway which led to the mishap. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has already chalked out a plan to construct a tunnel to bypass the difficult stretch but the plan has stuck in the land acquisition process for years.
The 'S' shape turnings near Khambatki ghat section has witnessed several road mishaps over the years but today's mishap was one of the deadliest as it claimed 18 lives and left 19 injured. The deceased include ten men, six women, and two children.
Following the mishap, the police officials stated that due to the over speeding, the driver could not control his vehicle at the sharp turning. Police have registered a case against the driver of the truck identified as Mehboob Attar who is one of the deceased in the mishap. Assistant inspector Yuvraj Hande, in charge of Khandala police station who visited the spot told DNA, "The stretch where the mishap took place has difficult turnings and high authorities have placed several boards in the stretch asking drivers to drive slow. However, the truck driver clearly ignored those signboards and he was over speeding. At the very last moment, he realised that the vehicle was going out of his control and he applied emergency breaks but it was too late."
According to the NHAI officials who visited the spot after the mishap, there were 100 meters long tyre marks on the highway which suggests that even after the truck was dragged for 100 meters, it did not stop. When DNA contacted Suhas Chitnis, project director of NHAI, he said, "Considering the difficult turning at the stretch, we have carried out the survey of the stretch and as per the recommendations of safety consultants, we have taken all the possible measures. We have constructed a concrete wall, crash barriers. We have also placed speed rumblers along with big signboards of the speed limit for drivers to know."
"This particular mishap shows that the driver was driving the truck at such a high speed that in spite of having crash barriers and concrete wall, the truck went through them," Chitnis said.
There have been several mishaps at that particular stretch in the past also due to the difficult turning and in order to find a solution to the problem, the NHAI has come up with a plan of constructing a tunnel which will bypass this stretch but even that plan is gathering dust.
When asked about the plan, Chitnis said, "The plan for the new tunnel is ready and we have already put a tender for the same on our website. There are some issues regarding the land acquisition but we are taking help of local administration to resolve the issues. Once the land acquisition is clear, the tender will be opened."
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