Where in the last 10 years, around 1,000 residents of nearby villages have met with fatal accidents, involving heavy vehicles, heading to or returning from the Port.
The Bombay High Court on Friday sought to know from the state government and Navi Mumbai Traffic police what steps have been taken to minimise road accidents, and to provide immediate medical aid on the two highways leading to JNPT, where in the last 10 years, around 1,000 residents of nearby villages have met with fatal accidents, involving heavy vehicles, heading to or returning from the Port.
After being told that there are no multi-speciality hospitals in the vicinity, and the ambulances that are deployed in the nearby areas lack drivers (who work for eight hours only), which in turn lead to delays during the golden hour after an accident, a division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Riyaz Chagla, said: "This is a serious issue and the traffic police, state and JNPT will have to file an affidavit explaining what steps are being taken to provide facilities."
The bench gave the direction while hearing a petition filed by Uran Samajik Sanstha, which in its plea has claimed that National Highway 348 (erstwhile NH 4B) and National Highway 348A (erstwhile SH54) are passing through Navi Mumbai and Panvel towards JNPT. The road is mostly used by heavy vehicles and liners who carry goods, to and from the port. Most of the times, not every vehicle gets entry inside JNPT, thus these heavy vehicles are parked along the highway, causing severe traffic congestion. Due to lack of service road, to be used by light vehicles, many accidents take place. The plea filed through Advocate Priyanka Thakhur says that there is no multi-speciality hospital in Uran and the government is duty-bound to provide basic infrastructure facilities to handle heavy traffic, like providing signals, signages and deployment of police personnel on roads connecting Uran City to Panvel, Kalamboli and Navi Mumbai.
JNPT, in an affidavit filed on Friday, said that it has been operating a hospital in the port area since 1992. It provides intermediate healthcare to accident victims and at a time can treat 50 patients as it has a bed capacity of that much. Upgradation of the same is in the process and will be done in nine months, following which more people will be accommodated.
Advocate RA Salunke, appearing for the state, said the court has asked for details on the number of ambulances deployed in the nearby areas of the highway and whether government hospitals are available in nearby areas. The matter has been posted for further hearing on August 31.
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