Mumbai-Goa highway contractors booked for culpable homicide

Navi Mumbai: The Raigad police on Thursday booked the contractors entrusted with road-widening work on the Mumbai-Goa highway for culpable homicide after holding them responsible for 170 accidents, 97 deaths and 208 injuries since 2020.
The case was registered against the senior office bearers of Chetak Enterprises and APCO Infrastructure for the substandard quality of road work on a 26.7-km stretch between Indapur and Vadpadle in Mangaon.
The police action came just three days after chief minister Eknath Shinde directed the Raigad superintendent of police to file criminal charges against the previous contractors of the highway for endangering public life by doing shoddy work. On Monday, Shinde had reviewed the work pending on the highway ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
“In most parts of the newly constructed road, there are potholes. And in some parts, the roads are dug up and left unattended with no safety measures in place. Commuting on this stretch is a risky affair for motorists. A case was registered on Thursday,” said assistant police inspector Nivrutti Borhade.
The dismal quality of the pothole-ridden highway, which HT had reported about in its July 20 edition, has become a raging issue. Political parties like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had staged protests at the intersection leading to the highway last year, with saplings being planted in the potholes.
Following Shinde’s orders, the National Highways Authority of India lodged a complaint at the Mangoan police station under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), among others, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against several senior executives of the contractors, including Hukimichand Jain, Avdesh Kumar Singh and project coordinator Sujit Sadanand Kavale. The police have already arrested Kavale.
In May 2017, the Maharashtra government had signed a contract with Chetak Enterprises and APCO Infrastructure to widen the national highway. The multi-crore project commenced in December 2017 and was supposed to be completed within two years.
“Even after the expiry of the said period, the contractor was given ample extensions to finish the work. However, instead of the expected 10% of work to be completed every month, the contractor did only 4.6% of the work. Due to this, the contractor was served show-cause notices three times by the NHAI,” said an official.
A non-confirmation report filed by the authorised engineer appointed by the central government to supervise the quality control was not observed to have led to any improvement in the work. “Not only is work left incomplete in various portions, but even in the parts where the work is supposed to be over, there is a lot of work pending like laying of thermoplastic paints (white stripes), placing of cat eye blinkers, signboards informing the motorists of the speed limits or any diversion etc.,” added the official.
On August 17, Sonali Bhise, a 29-year-old resident of Mahad, lost her life while travelling with a relative on a two-wheeler along the Mumbai-Goa highway. The fatal accident occurred near Mangaon when a tempo collided with their vehicle. Locals noted that the tempo driver was unable to control the vehicle’s speed due to the rough road conditions.
In December 2018, Nishikant Talekar, then 28, was riding a bike from Nagothane to Kolad when a truck swerved to avoid a pothole and hit him, resulting in a fatal crash. Welcoming the government’s decision to file an FIR, his brother Ninad Talekar said, “It’s high time something is done. Ordinary people who need to walk on the highway to reach the market or for other work can’t even walk safely. They face numerous difficulties.”
Data presented in court revealed that between January 2010 and April 2021, approximately 2,442 residents of the Konkan region lost their lives in accidents on the highway, with many others suffering permanent disabilities.
With inputs from Niraj Pandit