Another accident in Pune’s Navale bridge area; tanker collides with 3 vehicles, no casualties reported
In yet another mishap in the Navale bridge area on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Pune’s Narhe, a speeding tanker collided with three vehicles including two four-wheelers and a tempo traveller van Saturday afternoon.
Senior police inspector Shailesh Sankhe of the Sinhagad Road police station said no casualties were reported in the incident.
As per the initial information gathered by the police, the mishap took place around 1 pm on the highway, near the selfie point located close to the Navale bridge, on the lane going to Mumbai.
Three vehicles were damaged in the incident. The tanker driver identified as Mohammad Akram Mohammad Sagir, a native of Uttar Pradesh, tried to escape from the spot but was nabbed. A team comprising officials from Sinhagad Road police station, the traffic control branch of Pune City police and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) rushed to the spot after receiving information about the accident.
Recently, a major accident occurred at Navale bridge on November 20, in which a truck carrying gunny bags of rice hit or brushed past at least 48 vehicles, of which 24 were heavily damaged. As many as 13 persons who suffered injuries in the mishap were admitted to various hospitals for treatment and later discharged.
Top police and NHAI officials had then started working on an action plan to reduce the number of road mishaps at Navale bridge, which is known to be an accident-prone spot in the city.
The two neighbouring accident-prone ‘black spots’ in the Navale bridge area have reported 31 deaths in as many as 108 accidents over the last five years, Pune police data said.
According to norms set by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and the Indian Road Congress, a patch of 500 metres of a road on which five or more accidents with fatalities or grievous injuries have taken place in the last three years, is referred to as a ‘black spot’.
Notably, Pune police commissioner Amitabh Gupta recently said that there cannot be a permanent solution till the gradient of the slope of the Navale bridge is reduced. “Gradient has to be according to the National Highway manual… But a long-term solution will take time. Till then, we will implement short-term solutions…” Gupta said.
