Sinhagad Fort ghat road poses serious risk as 4-5 landslides occur due to rain

While officials from the forest department were seen taking efforts to plan traffic on the ghat road last year, the same seem to have been abandoned this year, much to the inconvenience of tourists

Last night, there were landslides at four to five places on the Sinhagad Fort ghat road owing to heavy rain. Fortunately, the dangerous cracks that had developed in the hills bordering the ghat road gave way to landslides during the night. Had these cracks given way to landslides during the day on Sunday, there would have been a major mishap given the queue of tourist vehicles on ghat road at that time.

The dangerous cracks that had developed in the hills bordering the ghat road gave way to landslides on Sunday night. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Ashutosh Jambhale, a local from Donje village near Sinhagad Fort, said, “This year after the onset of rains, landslides have started on a large scale. Last week, stones fell from a cliff near Pune Darwaja at Sinhagad Fort. Now there have been landslides at four to five places on ghat road Sunday night. Fortunately, there were no casualties.”

“However, due to lack of coordination between the forest department and the public works department, the lives of tourists are at risk. Forest department officials are not paying attention to any work except that of collecting money at the foot of Sinhagad Fort,” Jambhale said.

Landslides are an annual occurrence on the Sinhagad Fort ghat road during the monsoons. Last year, a young trekker lost his life in a landslide. The ghat road had to be closed to traffic several times due to landslides. After repeated incidents, the administration’s attention was drawn towards the dangerous cracks in the hills and the forest department allocated nearly Rs1.5 crores to the public works department to prevent the formation of these cracks. However, not even a simple budget has been approved yet.

While officials from the forest department were seen taking efforts to plan traffic on the ghat road last year, the same seem to have been abandoned this year, much to the inconvenience of tourists. “Around 20,000 tourists visit Sinhagad Fort on Saturdays and Sundays. The narrow ghat road has four to five-kilometre-long queues of vehicles. In such a scenario if a crack gives way to a landslide, there may be huge loss of life. However, the administration does not seem to have any plan to reduce traffic congestion on the ghat road nor is there any system of help in case of emergency,” said Balasaheb Jivde, conservator of forests, Sinhagad Fort.