Maharashtra Minister Ravindra Chavan takes babus on a walk of shame

State Public Works Department Minister Ravindra Chavan on Friday morning hit the MumbaiGoa Highway in his car to check the condition of the road following a threepart series by midday highlighting the pathetic condition of three highways connecting Mumbai with its neighbouring cities as well as complaints by citizensIt took around two hours for the entourage to cover 84 km of the MumbaiGoa Highway Maharashtra Public Works Department Minister Ravindra Chavan said ldquoWe started from Panvel in the morning and reached Raigad district We have filled and patched up every single pothole till this pointrdquoWorkers fill a pothole on MumbaiGoa Highway on Friday experts have called for fines for those violating traffic rules on highways to be implemented at toll plazas PicSameer Markande A patch of MumbaiGoa Highway that was repaired on Friday morningHe added ldquoEarlier there were only two contractors which has now been increased to 10 The contractors have been directed to employ their full force to keep the roads in good shaperdquoldquoWe have taken up stretches on priority and are fixing it for this year The various technologies and processes include polymer cold mix and rapid hardening cementrdquo the minister saidAlso Read APP Trap Why Googlersquos big ban drive is uselessChavan added ldquoOne will however see major improvement of the highway by next yearrsquos Ganapati festival Our target is to complete repairing the entire MumbaiGoa Highway by December 2023rdquo84kmDistance covered by PWD Minister Ravindra ChavanlsquoWe are taking measures to ensure a smoother journeyrsquoThe midday team also got in touch with departments and authorities concerned and asked them what measures are being taken to ensure better roads and less accidentsAdditional Director General Police Traffic Kulwant K Sarangal said ldquoWe are filing cases against those found flouting traffic norms and are collecting around Rs 50 lakh to Rs 55 lakh as fine each day We also undertake special drives to nab those who cut lanes and drive rashlyrdquo He further assured of more surveillance on the highwaysSpeaking about the MumbaiAhmedabad Highway senior NHAI officials on the condition of anonymity said ldquoCompanies which have been awarded repair and maintenance work have not been working properly and we also penalised some of themrdquoThey however added ldquoAs the temporary work has been washed away due to excess rain we have given them a deadline of September 3 to fix the patches We have also deployed officers to oversee the workrdquoWhen midday raised a query about the removal of highdefinition night vision CCTV cameras on the MumbaiPune Expressway due to alleged nonpayment Director General War Room Infrastructure Projects Radheshyam Mopalwar said ldquoMSRDS never installed any cameras permanently The vendor used to approach and install them on an experimental basis But now after many efforts we have got permission to install 370 cameras and an order has been passed on August 3 It will take nine months to install theserdquoRs 5055lakhAverage fine collected from traffic violators on state highways dailyNeed CCTV cameras on highways say expertsmidday also reached out to transport experts and activists to get their views and suggestions on the condition of the highways and how to improve the sameIndependent activist Tanmay Pendse said ldquoWe prepared an integrated traffic monitoring system in 2016 and submitted it to then chiefminister Devendra Fadnavis who had assured us that it would be enforced Our suggestions included installing cameras for general surveillance special cameras for foggy areas violation detection with adequate optic fibre backbonemdashwhich will help understand the reasons behind accidents Itrsquos been 6 years since and only 30 per cent of the suggested measures have been taken I hope the new CM will make sure that all the measures are considered and carried out on priorityrdquoTransport expert Jitendra Gupta said ldquoIs the MaharashtraGujarat Highway equipped with modern technology of CCTV and high speed cameras These technologies are used world over to control traffic indiscipline If our highways are missing this then the question is whyrdquoTalking about MumbaiPune Expressway toll activist Sanjay Shirodkar said ldquoThe contractor should be held responsible for not deploying systems like surveillance cranes ambulance and 24hour patrolling on the Expressway Clearing traffic is the duty of highway police but there is little to no compliance They are only seen at toll plazas The maintenance is not up to the mark there are not enough lights and the helpline has bad response There is also no synchronisation among the state government MSRDC contractor Highway Police and RTOrdquoldquoThe first point is that the authorities need to be visible in full force on the highways with cameras visible to drivers especially of heavy vehicles At toll plazas vehicles in wrong lanes need to be charged a fine and the vehicles should be detained for at least six hours It needs coordinated action on war footing for weeks till all such drivers get the messagerdquo said architect and transportation analyst Jagdeep DesaiActivist Mushtaq Ansari of the Potholes Warrior Foundation said ldquoAll toll should be made free for the entirety of monsoon till the roads are resurfaced properly There should be proper reflectors at every divider and clear lane markings to avoid accidents And toll operators who donrsquot maintain highways should be scrappedrdquoWork waiver and curbs on HighwaysEway down for two hoursA twohour traffic block was enforced on a segment of MumbaiPune Expressway on Friday from 2 pm Traffic from Kiwale to Talegaon was diverted to the old MumbaiPune Highway via Somatane slowing down the overall movement along the stretchRestriction on heavy vehiclesThe state government has banned the movement of heavy vehicles on the MumbaiGoa Highway from midnight August 27 to 8 pm on September 10 Heavy vehicles with the load carrying capacity of 16 metric tonnes MT or more are banned on the highway The ban is effective from Panvel Raigad to the Goa border of Sindhudurg However vehicles carrying essentials are exempted from the banToll waiver for Ganpati devotees heading to KonkanChief Minister Eknath Shinde has decided to waive road tax toll for Ganpati devotees going to Konkan for the festival from today Saturday till September 11 This exemption will be available on MumbaiBangalore National Highway MumbaiGoa National Highway and other Public Works Department roads To avail this waiver pass in the form of stickers with lsquoGaneshotsav 2022 Konkan Darshanrsquo written on it will have to be pasted on vehicles with driverrsquos name The Transport Department Traffic Police Regional Transport Offices will coordinate and make the stickers available at police stations traffic police checkpoints and RTO offices