After 33 hours of war-footing operations, the overturned tanker was finally lifted from the Mumbai–Pune Expressway at around 2 am on Thursday. However, traffic took nearly half a day to return to normal due to a massive backlog of stranded vehicles stretching for several kilometres.
Sleeping Drivers Worsen Jam
The situation worsened during the first half of Thursday as several heavy vehicle drivers, who had parked their trucks and fallen asleep on the carriageway, delayed the movement of traffic. A breakdown of another cement truck near Lonavala, further compounded the congestion, slowing down the clearance process.
Propylene Gas Leak
The tanker carrying highly inflammable propylene gas had overturned near the Adoshi tunnel in Bor Ghat on Tuesday evening 5pm, bringing traffic on both the expressway and the old Mumbai–Pune highway to a standstill for over 33 hours. Authorities were unable to control the gas leakage on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, prompting safety agencies to evacuate the area and halt vehicular movement.
Gas Transfer Operation
Traffic was restored only after the propylene gas from the damaged tanker was safely transferred into three other tankers by Wednesday late night. Police teams were later seen waking up drivers who were asleep inside their vehicles to ease congestion and ensure smooth movement.
Relief For Motorists
Meanwhile, social workers, police personnel, and the Khalapur tehsil administration distributed water, tea, and biscuits to stranded motorists. Experts have stressed the need for strict adherence to standard operating procedures while transporting highly inflammable gases, as questions are now being raised over whether safety norms were followed in this case.
Commuters Face Delays
A Pune resident who travelled to Mumbai on Thursday, took five hours whereas usually it used to take only 2 hours. "We reached Khopoli and then took old highway as we saw the traffic moving on expresseay was extremely slow," the commuter who doesn't want to be identified, said.
Also Watch:
Police Explain Traffic Chaos
"There was a huge backlog of vehicles due to which the traffic movement was slow. The driver of heavy vehicles who had fell asleep in the trucks, had to be woken up. All these factor slowed the traffic movement. Later, due to the heavy flow of heavy vehicles, Kon phata near Palaspa in Panvel was getting choked. Hence for sometime we stopped the expressway traffic movement to ease Kon phata. By afternoon, all the routes were clear and theee was no traffic jam anymore. The google maps too showed clear route," Additional SP (Highway traffic) Tanaji Chikhale said.
Tankers Sent To Gujarat
The tankers with the gas was sent to Dahej in Gujarat where it was originally meant to go. The tankers belonged to BPCL which were filled from Kochi refinery.
To get details on exclusive and budget-friendly property deals in Mumbai & surrounding regions, do visit: https://budgetproperties.in/
