Landslide at waterfall hits traffic

THANE: Traffic at Malshej Ghat, located 127 km from Mumbai, came to a standstill on Saturday afternoon following a landslide at Chatri Point waterfall. The landslide was cleared within a few hours. A major jam was prevented as the weekend crowd was significantly small owing to the district collector’s order on closure of waterfalls in the area.

“The crowd was relatively less despite it being a Saturday, so traffic was manageable. However, vehicles were stuck for over an hour and a half,” said a highway police official. Prasad Ukarde, sub-divisional officer of Kalyan, said there were reports of two people being injured, but these reports are unconfirmed.

Malshej Ghat is one of the most popular picnic spots in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region due to its scenic waterfalls and multiple trekking points. The 10-kilometer stretch is the only motorable road for people commuting from Kalyan to Ahmednagar, and around 1,000 vehicles ply the road daily. The National Highway Authority of India has identified at least ten dangerous spots along this stretch.

Dinesh Mahajan, executive engineer, NHAI, said, “To prevent a major disaster, the police stopped the traffic along the twoway ghat from both sides of the road. We immediately reached the spot and started moving the boulders. Around 5.30pm, we completely cut and moved the boulder at the side of the road and traffic resumed.”