mid-day had earlier highlighted how dangerous the stretch is and local residents too have been complaining about its state
An on-duty traffic constable from Ambernath died after he swerved his bike to avoid a pothole and crashed into a truck on the Kalyan-Dombivli road on Tuesday night. Sanjeev Patil, 49, was injured and was being rushed to hospital, when he died on the way owing to severe bleeding.
Residents have, for long, been complaining about the stretch of the road which has been particularly bad here. mid-day, too, had written about the state of roads in the area. The shocked family is yet to come to terms with the sudden death and has left for Jalgaon. Residents and activists are now demanding strong action against the guilty and have said they will file an FIR in the case.
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Sanjeev Patil and the pothole he had tried to avoid
Cop was on duty
The traffic policeman, identified as Sanjeev Patil, 49, was a resident of Ambernath East. He is survived by his wife and two sons aged 22 and 18. According to the Ambernath police station officer, Patil was on duty and had received a call about a traffic jam at Gandhi chowk. He took his bike from the DMC corner where he had been standing and moved towards Gandhi Chowk. When he reached the Ambernath police station area, he saw several huge potholes along the road. He tried to avoid going into one that looked deep and swerved but was hit by a truck. He fell because of the impact and the back tyre of the truck went over his right thigh. He was bleeding severely and was immediately taken to the central hospital where he was declared dead owing to the massive bleeding.
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'Gem of a person'
Traffic PSI Ramesh Mukadam, a friend of Patil, said, "He was very hardworking and a gem of a person. He came to Ambernath traffic division in 2017 and was always active in everything. I heard on the wireless that he had met with an accident." Another traffic policeman said, "We stand here every day, and see that nobody can drive or ride their vehicle easily on this 5 km stretch of road. There are countless potholes on this stretch. If they had been fixed, Patil would have been alive today."
Satyajeet Burman, a resident of the area, says there is not a spot on the entire stretch of road in Amberbath where the traffic copy died, that has no potholes. Pic/Atul Kamble
'Will file FIR'
A resident Satyajeet Burman said, "Why should an FIR not be filed against the department responsible for fixing potholes? Seven or eight citizens have lost their lives due to potholes in the past three years. Corporators have been winning contracts resulting in substandard work. We will file an FIR in the case."
A rickshaw driver in the area, Jitu Jaydev, said, "Every day we come across some accident or the other. We have three schools in the area and have seen children fall into the pothole from bikes. We cannot say this is a road because there is not a single patch where we do not see a pothole." This Kalyan-Badlapur road has been built by MMRDA but there is no authority yet that is responsible for maintaining it. MSRDC and MMRDA roads, too, have potholes in the Kalyan area where last year three people died.
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MMRDA spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar said, "The Kalyan-Badlapur road passes through Kalyan, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath, Badlapur -Doane. The construction of Kalyan-Badlapur Road was completed from Ambernath to Badlapur-Doane by MMRDA in March 2015 and handed over to its parent department PWD Thane Division. In 2017, they took possession of the road, except the stretch in Ambernath from Saibaba Mandir to forest naka . At present for widening of road is in progress." He added, "Filling of potholes is being done regularly. But due to continuous heavy rain, potholes have been forming again and again. At this stage, filling potholes with bituminous macadam is not possible. It will only be done when the rain stops."
5km
Length of the bad road in Ambernath
Also Read: Mumbai: Tired of shoddy work, shop owner turns pothole fixer in Santacruz
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