Two lanes on route to Pune will remain shut till July 25
Mumbai : In the wake of the landslide on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway that killed three people on Sunday, the state government has sprung into action to prevent further accidents on the Expressway. The repair work on the Expressway will start on Thursday and is slated to continue for a couple of days, during which period a couple of lanes on the Expressway will be shut, with the traffic being diverted to the old Mumbai-Pune highway.
On Wednesday, Public Works Department minister Eknath Shinde visited the expressway and surveyed the dangerous spots on it. Safety nets will be installed at the spots that engineers feel are prone to landslides. After his visit near Adoshi tunnel, where the landslide took place, Shinde said, “Our teams will work during the hours when traffic is minimum. They have also been instructed to work in stages, instead of working for long hours at a stretch.”
The measures adopted by the authorities include replacing the safety nets and setting up hi-tech devices to alert authorities of an impending landslide so that preventive action can be taken.
According to Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) officials, a sensor-like device could be installed in the landslide-prone sections, which would trigger sirens warning the authorities.
Following the landslide, a survey carried out by the Geological Survey of India found that there are seven dangerous spots on the ghat section of the Expressway where the threat of landslides still persists.
