The stretch along the Tamhini Ghat, around 90 km away from Pune where a car skidded last week and claimed three lives is an accident-prone zone. Apart from landslides on valley roads during the monsoons, small stones also fall on the road making it unsafe for commute, the police said.
Police inspector Rajendra Patil from Mangaon police station said that the administration and police are taking a number of measures to ensure the stretch is safe for motorists. “However, overspeeding is the main reason for most of the accidents. Even in the incident on Saturday evening, car driver Rohan Parashuram Gade, 26, lost control of the vehicle after it skidded due to overspeeding,” said Patil. He added that there are two spots along the stretch including Saturday's accident spot where authorities are focusing more than other locations.
“Apart from putting up signboards, we are planning to take rounds during the monsoon to keep a watch on motorists' speed. There is a high possibility of losing control if a vehicle is driven at high speed on a curvy road. A fall into the valley could be fatal,” Patil said.
According to Patil, the car involved in Saturday's incident fell down the valley in phases. “First, it skidded off from the road and hit the roadside boulders before toppling down in the valley. It first landed around 200 feet below, where four persons were thrown out from the car, of which three survived. The two persons struck inside the car fell further down in the 500-foot-deep gorge,” he said. Patil added that a similar accident was reported along the same stretch around five years ago.
Patil further informed that the rescue operation continued for around seven and half hours. The three injured witnesses were saved, their condition is stable and are undergoing treatment at Mangaon Upazila Hospital. “We carried out the rescue operation in very bad weather and the conditions were horrible as the car had dropped at least 500 feet below,” he said. He added that the SRT Team, Mangaon Mahad Shelar Mama Rescue Team, and Patnus Garudmachi Rescue Team helped in the rescue operation.
