Death trap at Sion-Panvel highway!!!

INNUMERABLE JOKES have been cracked in the media about the deplorable condition of Mumbai roads and highways. While we laugh at another wisecrack by some clever cartoonist in the paper, we are gladly accepting the apathy that has set in our lives towards the gradual but systematic deterioration of this once great city. I remember Mumbai roads to be smooth and free of potholes, contrary to what we see today. In fact, we see all potholes and some where between them, we assume there must be something called a road.

 

The lofty statement by the civic administration of zero potholes is a joke; they take us to be idiots. Is this really the commercial and financial capital of the country that has no pedestrian pathways, drains over flow on to the roads, leaving people with no choice but to walk over all that filth?

 

Any construction activity that is being carried out in the city speaks volumes of the callous attitude the administration has towards the safety of the general public, at large. Show us one construction site, which is safely barricaded, so that the construction material does not spill on to the road causing cars to skid. Show us dividers that are installed in position and not lying in the middle of the road causing a danger to motorist.

 

I am not exaggerating when I say that the roads are a death trap, and what is disgusting is that the situation is going from bad to worse.

 

Just recently I have come across a sign of such callousness on part of the administration that it left my blood cold. Road construction is not exactly rocket science; why can’t we have smooth pothole free roads? How difficult would it be?

 

This happened on the Sion-Panvel highway at the Kamothe flyover. It was eight pm on January 1, 2008 and our group was returning to Mumbai after celebrating the New Year’s Eve. Our car had a flat tyre due to which we had to stall on Kamothe flyover. We were there for approximately 45 minutes. And what we saw in those 45 minutes showed us the callous and careless attitude the civic administration has towards public life.

 

On the flyover, there is one long depression in the concrete stretching about 50 metres in length, and at least 12 inches wide and 12 inches deep. Incidentally, the flyover does not have streetlights working that make it impossible to see the pothole.

 

While we were there, in a span of twenty minutes we saw four motorcycle drivers skid across the concrete right in middle of the highway which has continuous and fast moving oncoming traffic, thus, coming right in path of high speed trucks and cars. Fortunately, the four people survived and none was run over by oncoming traffic, but there were a couple of horrifying near misses.

 

Between helping the shocked drivers get up and move away from the oncoming traffic, we tried calling the police control room at least 50 times from our mobile phones, and what was shocking was that no one picked up the line. It was the evening of January 1, 2008 and the police should have been on high alert, but surprisingly we could not even get through that lifeline number.

 

All we wanted was some barricades to be put up to warn other motorcyclist of the danger; hence we stopped at the next traffic police chowki we saw. They agreed to do the same, but also admitted that the situation had been there since the past one year.

 

Shocking…I am sure that lot of fatal accidents have occurred at that point and no one ever thought it was necessary to fill in the pothole to make it safe for the public.

 

Somebody has been horribly irresponsible and has not done his job properly, in turn, endangering the hundreds of motorcyclists who travel that road.

 

Ar. Rashmi Pachgade