Nashik: A portion of an under-construction bridge coming up on the Mumbai-Nagpur Super Expressway in the Ghoti area of Nashik has collapsed, officials said here on Tuesday.
According to a police official, the bridge, which will connect Gangadwadi and Belgaon-Tarhale in the Igatpuri taluka, was being constructed with cranes when it suddenly crashed around 7.30 p.m. on Monday.
There are no casualties in the incident and the work has been stopped.
The causes of accident are being checked and the crash site vicinity has been cordoned off, said the official of Ghoti Police Station, declining to be quoted.
The bridge accident has raised questions on the construction quality, processes and materials as well as proper site supervision especially since the HHSBTMSM will reduce the travel time between Mumbai-Nagpur from the current 16 hours to barely 8 hours.
The bridge is a link in one of the most difficult terrains on the 701-km long 'Hindu HridaySamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg' (HHSBTMSM) Phase I, that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 11, 2022.
The total planned project, costing Rs 55,000 crore, encompasses 701 km linking the Maharashtra capital and the second capital, passing through 10 districts, halving the travel time from 16 hours to just 8 hours.
The work on the remaining around 181-km long Nashik-Mumbai section is currently being implemented at a fast pace, and the bridge crash is likely to delay the competition of the mega-project.
An NGO, Council for Protection of Rights (CPR) Chairman barrister Vinod Tiwari has written to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and others pointing out at the complete lack of 'halts' or other basic amenities and facilities that are leading to accident on the expressway.
He has demanded that the HHSBTMSM be closed for all traffic till all the facilities like drinking water, baths-toilets for men and women, food courts, petrol stations, mini shopping plazas, are provided as promised by the government and travel on it becomes absolutely safe and accident-free for people.
The CPR had earlier said that the present stretch has already become deadly for vehicles and their occupants using it since the past nearly five months. The Samruddhi Expressway has already earned the sobriquet of 'killer highway' with over 95 deaths and more than 300 accidents on the Nagpur-Nashik stretch currently functioning.
The Super Expressway has three lanes in each direction, so there are no head-on collisions, but more than 50 per cent of the truckers do not adhere to the "no lane change" rules.
The traffic on the Super Expressway comprises 30 per cent small vehicles, 20 per cent small goods carriers, and 50 percent trucks, with the last category blatantly flouting the lane-change rules that result in big and small crashes.
With inputs from agencies