Katraj-Dehu road bypass, a deadly one

Death of two national badminton players, Siddhant Ghorpade and Saurav Paralikar, on the Katraj-Dehu road bypass of National Highway number 4 has once again highlighted the accident hazards on the bypass which has become a virtual death trap.

This bypass stretches through highly populated residential area of the city and many citizens prefer it to commute to save time. But, since the same stretch is also used by the heavy vehicles, it has caused many accidents in the past.

The Pune Traffic police branch’s accident report system also indicates that the stretch has witnessed at least 35 road accidents from Ambegaon Budruk to Kiwale phata on the same bypass last year. It includes fatal, serious and minor accidents.

Most of the accidents have taken place near Gandhinagar, Motiramnagar in Warje, Chandni chowk and Wakad.
According to the police, most of the accidents on this stretch have taken place due to the overspeeding and not following the discipline of the highways.

Senior inspector, Sunil Darekar, of Warje Malwadi Police station told DNA, “Most of the accidents have taken place near Warje Bridge and Chandni chowk. People often tend to use the highway like any other road in the city and they ignore the danger of heavy vehicles passing along the highway.”

“Most of the accidents involve two-wheeler riders. Apart from that, there is no arrangement for the pedestrians to cross the road. The population has increased, but due to the lack of a pedestrian way, many people risk their lives and sometimes they are hit by the speeding vehicles,” Darekar added.

The bypass road remains a deadly stretch even at Wakad or Balewadi. Senior police inspector, G S Madgulkar, of Hinjewadi police station said, “The highway is very narrow near the Bavdhan or Kiwale phata, and many speeding vehicles fail to notice the narrow road and they meet with accidents.”