Potholed flyovers miss safety lesson

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation MSRDC which has constructed several flyovers in Mumbai seems to have given the Road Safety Campaign a miss As a result there are no banners or hoardings to create awareness about safe driving on the flyovers in the city In addition MiD DAY found potholes on many stretches of the Western Express Highway and several spots where pavers were either uneven or completely uprooted Missing pavers on Western Express Highway at Borivli PicNimesh Dave When a senior MSRDC official was asked what steps were being taken to promote safe driving during the road safety campaign the official pointed out that they were distributing handbills on safe driving at various toll plazas The Mumbai Entry Point Limited MEPL has been given the responsibility for collecting toll at the five entry points in Mumbai by MSRDC As a result MEPL also looks after the maintenance and repair work of the flyovers constructed by MSRDC Pamphlets being distributed at Talegaon toll naka However there were no banners or hoardings put up by MSRDC when MiD DAY traveled on some of the flyovers on the Western Express Highway maintained by MEPL Apart from that there were no banners or hoardings on the BandraWorli Sea Link and Reclamation which were also developed by MSRDC ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN A flop show A road safety campaign far away from the roads Road to safety in Mumbai only on paper Mumbai still gets behind the wheel in high spirits BMC Road safety is not our duty Several schools bunk road safety campaign Not enough posters to promote road safety Most hospitals in the dark about campaign In pictures Motorists breaking traffic norms There were banners at some places but those had been instated by the Traffic Police Department One banner was found near the sea link saying lsquoDonrsquot Drink and Driversquo Apart from this the Western Express Highway flyovers had no banners on road safety The Dahisar Toll Plaza was also devoid of any hoardings or banners on the subject When we tried to speak to MSRDC regarding the programmes that were being undertaken by the corporation vicechairman and managing director Bipin Shrimali did not answer our call despite several attempts However in reply to the SMS send by this reporter he gave us the number of one Executive Engineer A P Abrol of MSRDC Speaking to MiD DAY Abrol who looks after the MumbaiPune Expressway said ldquoWe know that the road safety campaign is going on and we are distributing safety pamphlets and warning slips to motorists at toll plazas on the Expressway We are also distributing safety pamphlets to motorists at Khalapur Talegaon and other toll plazas The pamphlets are also being distributed at food courts along the expressway and we have also requested the Traffic Police Department to conduct an extensive drive about safety and drinkdriving on the expresswayrdquo Having asked the officials to send details about the programmes undertaken by MSRDC on MumbaiPune Expressway and other places during the road safety campaign MiD DAY only received the pictures of hoardings at two toll plazas on the expressway that too clicked on the same day Highway Safety programmes of National Highway Authority amp MSRDC A pothole on the flyover at Kandivali is a potential safety hazard Black spots the Dangerous locations on the road should be identified and repaired Potholes The potholes on the road should be repaired Signboard and Information Board Wherever necessary Signals should be installed and in order to provide information to the passengers and drivers signboard and information boards should be installed Repairing and painting of dividers the dividers should be repaired and where necessary they should also be painted Repairing The nonfunctional signals damaged boards blinker lamps should be repaired Zebra Crossing Zebra crossings should be painted at all the important junctions Passenger Information Boards should be installed Caution and diversion boards should be instated at various places where roadrepair work is going on u00a0