Palghar cops flag ‘black spots’ on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, write to NHAI

Palghar SP Yatish Deshmukh has written to the Thane project director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), identifying 14 “black spots”.

MUMBAI: Danger is ever present on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, especially the stretch cutting across Palghar district on the Maharashtra side of the border. This 115-km-long section, extending from Vesave (near Dahisar) to Talasari, and connecting two major cities, is in focus, again, for its unusually high number of accidents and fatalities.

Mumbai, India - August 06, 2025: Black Spots on National Highway No- 48 at Takwahal village located in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, India, on Wednesday, August 06, 2025. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Now the Palghar superintendent of police Yatish Deshmukh has written to the Thane project director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), identifying 14 “black spots” and demanding that the highway authority fix them on a war footing.

The letter, sent to the NHAI in the last week of July, said previous letters from the police on repairs and traffic safety measures had drawn no response, prompting the police to conduct an audit and identify the black spots.

The situation is so dire for motorists using this stretch that Palghar district collector Indurani Jakhar met with NHAI officers in July, pointing to large cracks in the concrete at the Vasai phata toll naka. She told NHAI officers that the number of accidents had risen between Talasari and Warkhande due to multiple openings in the median, leading to reckless lane-cutting and increased crash risk.

In its audit, the Palghar police has noted a detailed list of issues that needs to be fixed. Recurring throughout the list are hazardous media openings, encouraging motorists to drive on the wrong side of the road, poor illumination, sharp and dangerous curves, encroachments and speeding.

Here’s a snapshot of how dangerous the Palghar stretch of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, also called the NH-48, really is: In 2023, the number of serious accidents and corresponding fatalities was 182 and 106; in 2024, it was 74 and 86; while until July 2025, there were 65 serious accidents, including 71 deaths.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway came into focus when industrialist and former Tata Sons chairperson Cyrus Mistry died in a high-speed crash on the highway, on a bridge across the Surya River, on September 4, 2022. Although a case of rash driving was registered against the individual driving the Mercedes they were travelling in, the accident also brought to light the faulty design of the road leading up to the bridge.

Shocking neglect

Former Shiv Sena UBT corporator and transport activist Javed Lulania said, “The NHAI claimed they had taken corrective measures and removed the accident site from the list of black spots. And yet there have been at least four accidents on the same spot since then.’’

Also turning the highway into a death trap is very poor concretisation work, which has left the stretch pockmarked and cratered.

Lulania, who has been working hard to improve road conditions on the highway, said, “The concretising is haphazard and sometimes ad hoc, which is shocking for a stretch that connects two major cities.”

He added, “Often, the NHAI authorities randomly place barricades across the carriageway, leaving only one lane for traffic movement. The NHAI authorities claim they have positioned sufficient traffic marshalls on this stretch, but in reality there are only a handful. If a vehicle breaks down, there is barely any towing provision.”

Borivali resident, J S Shah, a factory owner in Vapi, concurs. “Till two years ago, I used to regularly drive to Vapi and back. I was pleased when the NHAI concretised the entire highway. But the stretch soon turned into a death trap as the concrete cracked and cratered, ruining my car’s suspension. After spending ₹2 lakh in repairs, I gave up driving on this highway and now I take the train.”

Dr Anand Kapse at M L Dhawle Hospital situated along the highway said, “Ambulances are often delayed in reaching us, endangering lives.” He added that the condition of the highway is so bad that many have switched to travelling by train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. “We are hoping the Mumbai Vadodara Expressway opens soon, so that there is an alternative route available.’’

Honouring his son’s memory

Lulania operates two WhatsApp groups for motorists, flagging traffic issues in real time on the NH-48. His son Owez died on the highway a few years ago while returning to Ahmedabad from Mumbai. The SUV he was travelling in skid and crashed near Silent Valley Resort. The railings at the site were broken and Owez died on the spot.

His father has since made it his mission to campaign to improve road safety on the highway so that others don’t meet his son’s fate. Among his many public service initiatives, Lulania and a group of 12 others offer a free ambulance service to accident victims on the NH-48.

Despite efforts to get the NHAI to commit to improving the highway, little seems to have changed. Former Mumbai mayor and Sena UBT deputy leader, Vishakha Raut said, “I travel to my village in Boisar by road every fortnight. I see only labourers on site when the highway is being upgraded, but I have never seen engineers or government employees. This is shocking for a highway that connects two business hubs like Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Why don’t the local MLAs raise this issue in the assembly?’’

NHAI manager (technical) in charge of the Thane unit, Dipendra Singh told HT, “We have done many improvements to the NH-48 and continue to do so. We have got ₹20 crore sanctioned to fix black spots on priority. The road is bad in some places, but this is because state government agencies had dug up the road to lay pipes and then handed us the site late for upgradation.’’

Bal Malkit Singh, advisor and former president of the All India Motor Transport Congress, makes a pertinent point. “We pay a heavy toll and, despite this, a truck that needs three days on the Surat-Mumbai-Surat run now takes five days. Traffic jams cost us diesel and maintenance, not to mention the back problems drivers are developing from navigating the highway’s cratered surface.”

No trauma care

The 100-km stretch from Vasai to Vapi did not have a major hospital that could treat serious accident cases until August 2019, when the state health department started constructing a trauma-care centre at Manor. Soon after the death of Cyrus Mistry in 2022, the state decided to speed it up.

HT visited the site on August 5, but the work was far from complete. The superstructure was leaking in many places and there were no beds or equipment. The operation theatre too was not complete.

Dr Ramdas Marad, a civil surgeon in Palghar district, said the work had stopped completely during the Covid-19 pandemic and restarted only after Mistry’s accident. Three years later, it is nowhere near complete. “There is a great paucity of funds to complete the work. It will take another eight to ten months to complete the hospital,” he said.