In rare case, Thane cops pull up MSRDC for bad road in Kalyan

A COPY THE NOTICE HAS BEEN SENT TO THE GUARDIAN MINISTER AND CHIEF MINISTER DEVENDRA FADNAVIS

BHIWANDI: In a rare case, the Thane police sent a notice to an executive engineer of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) on Wednesday and asked him to repair the road that connects Kalyan to Bhiwandi.

A few days earlier, they had sent a similar notice to the Kalyan-dombivli Municipal Corporation(kdmc).

The police are focussing on the road because five people have died owing to potholes in Kalyan since the onset of monsoon.

Manoj Patil, deputy commissioner of police form Zone 2, said, “We have sent a notice to the MSRDC executive engineer to repair the road properly so that no untoward accident takes place. We have asked them to do it as soon as possible. We have not spelt out any timeline for repairs.”

The letter may pave the way for the police to file cases against MSRDC and KDMC under 304A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code, said Narendra Pawar, officer from the Bhiwandi zone. Meanwhile, MSRDC said it needed some time to repair all five roads. “We are trying to repair the roads as soon as possible, but we want some time for it. Owing to traffic jams, we don’t get space to repair the road. We will ask traffic police to divert traffic, but it will overburden other roads. We will talk to the traffic to find a solution,” said an engineer from MSRDC.

“Roads in Bhiwandi are not good for any motorist as there are potholes on every specific distance,” said Neha Sahu, a businesswoman from Bhiwandi. She added that repairs after the five deaths have had little impact. To fix responsibility, the contractor’s name and number should be displayed on the road, said Sahu.