Mumbai : With the maintenance work on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway currently underway, motorists travelling on the expressway may not have to pay toll. The idea behind waiving off toll charges for light motor vehicles (LMVs) between 10 am and 6 pm is to keep the traffic movement steady and avoid jams due queues at toll booths, official of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) said.
“Since the maintenance work is on and there are diversions on the expressway the toll is not charged when there are jams. It is done to keep traffic movement smooth and to see that there are no jams along the way. Apart from that another reason is that people are not getting to use the expressway fully due to diversion,” said Anil Diggikar, vice-chairman and managing director, MSRDC.
MSRDC, after a preliminary survey, has identified around five to six locations where landslides could occur. Work of removal of rock masses or boulders is being undertaken in phases at these locations. Boulders that are at a height of 70 meters will be removed by special cranes during this period. “Currently, the work to remove loose rocks and boulders is on in full swing. If all goes as per our plan the work should be over by Monday,” said Diggikar.
He added that post the removal of boulders engineers would take up the task to install safety nets along the stretch. “The meshing work will start once the loose boulders are safely removed. The new net with deeper rooting will be installed,” Diggikar said. The nailing of the net which was earlier around 2 meters is now expected to change to deeper nailing. “The nailing could be between 6 meters deep to 10 and 12 meters depending on the sediment condition,” he explained.
After last Sunday’s landslide that killed two people, MSRDC has chalked out various short term and long term measures to prevent landslides on the expressway. “We don’t want any such incident to happen in the future and so we’re taking help of Swiss or German technology to prevent landslides after the due bidding process,” Diggikar said.
