Turmeric, rainwater ‘cocktail’ fete at PCMC office has commuters skidding on roads

Commuters said there was a huge pile up of turmeric mixed with gulal on the road, which created a slippery mud gravel on the road, leading to rampant skidding of unsuspecting commuters.

As many as eighteen commuters fell down while manoeuvring their vehicles on the road, which was covered with a thick layer of mud, turmeric and gulal, used by the supporters of newly elected mayor Rahul Jadhav of Pimpri Chinchwad during his victory celebrations.

A whopping 60 sacks of turmeric were emptied on the road by revelers following the election of Rahul Jadhav as the mayor of Pimpri Chinchwad on Saturday. (HT Photo)

A whopping sixty sacks of turmeric were emptied on the road, which led to the main Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation (PCMC) building being infested by revelers. Commuters said there was a huge pile up of turmeric mixed with gulal on the road, which created a slippery mud gravel on the road, leading to rampant skidding of unsuspecting commuters.

PCMC municipal corporation officials had to summon fire brigade officials to clear off the road stretch.Traffic police officials said that the overjoyed revelers did not think twice about what they were doing and in the fit of excitement, poured a large volume of turmeric onto the road as part of their celebrations. The turmeric mixed with mud and made the road slippery. A disabled staffer of the Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporation (PCMC) was also injured while he was passing through the road.

“Bhandara was used in large quantities and it was raining, which led to the mishaps. Bhadara mixed with rainwater and sand, leading to a large number of people skidding and falling on the road,” said Kiran Gawade, PCMC fire brigade chief .

Ashok Morale, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) said that action based on negligence can be taken if there is a complaint filed with the local police station in this regard. Civil society members demanded that suo moto action be taken as the overenthusiastic workers often go overboard on various occasions in different contexts, which endanger the lives of residents.

Vijay Kumar Kubade, Pimpri police station in-charge, said that a case under 115 BPMC Act, for dirtying a public place, has been lodged against unidentified persons in this regard. The complaint was lodged by the PCMC security officer with the police.