‘Dedicated policing is must’

The Pune-Mumbai expressway has received the tag of a killer expressway due to the increasing number of accidents on the 93 kilometre stretch. However, when it comes to the investigation of the accidents, this expressway gets divided among seven police stations.
According to the experts of Mahratta Chamber of commerce, industries and agriculture (MCCIA), the investigation is hampered due to the division of the expressway among these police stations. Hence, they had suggested that two new police stations dedicated for the expressway should be set up for effective and faster investigation of the accidents, but there has been no progress so far.
The highway police have divided the expressway between Pune and Thane regions which looks after the six lane highway. They are responsible for smooth functioning of the expressway. However, in case of any accident, the highway police do not have the authority to register a case or investigate accident cases. The local police station of that area can register a case and investigate.
Chandmal Parmar, chairman of rail, road and traffic management committee of MCCIA, said, “In case of the Pune- Mumbai expressway, the entire stretch falls under the jurisdiction of seven police stations, namely Talegaon Dabhade, Wadgaon, Lonavla city, Lonavla rural, Khandala, Khalapur and Panvel. When an accident takes place, the highway police inform the local police stations for registering and investigating the case.’’
“However, all these police stations are far from the expressway and the police team does not often reach the accident spot in time and if a key evidence is lost, it becomes difficult to investigate the accident and to know the cause of the accident. Hence, we have suggested that the government should start two new police stations dedicated to the expressway. One police station will be under Pune division while the other police station will be under Raigad division. These police stations will only look after accident cases on the expressway. They will be able to reach the accident spot along with the highway police and can start collecting the evidence. They, along with the highway police, can come out with some concrete solutions to curb the increasing number of accidents,’’ Parmar said.
Superintendent of police (highway) Dilip Bhujbal said, “So far, only the Indian Railways has separate police stations, but there is no such separate police station for the highway. Once the proposal comes to us, we will study it and will try to work out a plan.’’