E-Paper
NHAI conducts massive anti-encroachment drive near Navale Bridge
Two days after the major pileup along the stretch between Dari pul bridge and Navale Bridge chowk in which at least 48 vehicles were damaged and over 20 people suffered injuries, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Tuesday carried out a massive anti-encroachment drive to remove illegal commercial and private establishments from the service roads on the bypass highway
Two days after the major pileup along the stretch between Dari pul bridge and Navale Bridge chowk in which at least 48 vehicles were damaged and over 20 people suffered injuries, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Tuesday carried out a massive anti-encroachment drive to remove illegal commercial and private establishments from the service roads on the bypass highway. Not only were the encroachments impeding traffic, the drive was also aimed at separating local traffic from the highway traffic.
The drive began at 9 am with NHAI officials and more than 100 police personnel and workers removing the encroachments. The decision to remove the encroachments and widen the roads was taken after locals complained about narrow service roads and daily traffic jams.
Sanjay Kadam, NHAI Pune project director, said, “It is our continuous endeavour to take action against illegal encroachments on the highways under our jurisdiction. We had sent notices to all illegal establishments in the past but several reminders notwithstanding, the encroachments were not removed. Today, all our officials along with the police started the drive which continued till late afternoon.”
Earlier at about 8.30 pm on Sunday, there was a multi-car pileup on the National Highway (NH) 4 near Navale Bridge in Pune when the driver of a speeding truck lost control over the wheels. At least 48 vehicles were damaged and over 20 people suffered injuries in the accident.
“Action was taken against 100 illegal hotel establishments while the rest were private establishments including small shops, houses and other sheds. The main reason behind this anti-encroachment drive was to segregate local traffic from the highway traffic, especially heavy vehicle traffic. As in most accidents, two-wheeler riders lost their lives in the Sunday accident near Navale Bridge,” Kadam said.
