Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Portion of road caves in
THANE: A major part of the busy Mumbra Bypass Road will remain closed for heavy vehicles for at least a day, following a cave in of a portion of the road in the early hours of Thursday. This also led to traffic congestion for some time at Shil Phata in the afternoon.
According to civic officials, the crater was reported at around 1.35am on Thursday when a four to five feet long patch of the Thane bound lane caved in on the Rana Nagar stretch of the road. The crater formed on the Reti Bandar Bridge on the crucial road, with the road underneath being visible through the iron bars.
Officials from the Mumbra Traffic Police and the TMC’s Regional Disaster Management Cell were rushed to the spot and the lane has temporarily been closed for heavy vehicles.
Meanwhile, a second crater was reported on the same lane at around 11.15am on Thursday near the Lal Killa hotel. Officials said that the crater was filled up immediately and no mishaps were reported due to the incident. “Around 60% of the Thane-bound lane on the bridge that passes over the Mumbra Reti Bandar has been closed for heavy vehicles while repair work is being conducted. Personnel have been deployed in order to manage the traffic during this time. We have met the concerned officials and repair work is expected to start on Thursday night. The Thane-bound lane might stay off limits for heavy vehicles for a day or two,” DCP Balasaheb Patil, Thane Traffic Police, said.
Motorists who use the Mumbra Bypass road said that Thursday’s incident was hardly a new one, and that they have been seeing incidents like this every monsoon. Amit Pimpale (40), a Dombivli resident who commutes to Thane for work daily, said that he has been taking the Bypass Road for the last 10 years and has been seeing such craters appear every year during rainy season.
“It just takes moderate to heavy rainfall for the concrete on the road to cave in. Sometimes the craters appear on the Reti Bandar bridge and they are so bad that one can see right through them. Last year, the bridge was closed for six months for repair work. We tolerate the inconvenience caused by taking alternative routes thinking that it would lead to some good when the work is over. Clearly, it has not,” Pimpale said.
More than 50,000 heavy vehicles ply from this road towards Bhiwandi, Taloja, Panvel and JNPT. Vehicles going towards Delhi, Agra, Ahmedabad and Chennai also use this vital bypass. The closure of part of the lane might affect the traffic along Thane, Kalwa, Mumbra and Airoli.
When contacted, S Totawar, executive engineer, PWD, said, “A proposal for laying an additional slab over the road has already been approved. A study was also conducted by the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute (VJTI) for this purpose and the report has also been received. We are only waiting for the monsoon to pass so that we can start work.” He, however, refused to comment on the reason for Thursday’s cave-in.