Mumbai The massive traffic jam that had been going on for the last two days on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the main route connecting Mumbai and Pune, ended on Thursday morning. Traffic on the route has become completely normal after about 33 hours of traffic jam due to overturning of a gas tanker in Khandala Ghat area. During this period, thousands of drivers and passengers remained stranded on the road for hours, due to which they had to face a lot of problems.
The accident happened around 5 pm on Tuesday evening, when a tanker going towards Mumbai lost control and overturned in the hilly and narrow part of Khandala Ghat. Seeing the possibility of a major accident due to the highly flammable propylene gas being filled in the tanker, the administration immediately stopped the traffic in both the directions. For safety reasons, extracting and removing the gas from the tanker proved to be a complex and time-consuming process. Due to the traffic jam, there were long queues of vehicles for about 20 kilometers on the expressway. Women, children and the elderly were stranded for hours without basic amenities like food, water and toilets. Considering the seriousness of the situation, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) also temporarily suspended toll collection. According to MSRDC officials, by late Wednesday night the gas from the tanker was safely transferred to other tankers and the crashed vehicle was removed with the help of cranes. After this, traffic was restored on the route towards Mumbai at 1.46 am. However, movement continued to be slow for some time due to heavy vehicles stuck there. During this entire operation, teams of NDRF, SDRF, BPCL, Highway Police and MSRDC remained deployed on the spot. The accident also affected public transport and many MSRTC bus services had to be cancelled. Apart from this, the supply of milk, vegetables and other essential commodities was also affected. By Thursday morning the situation became completely normal and the passengers heaved a sigh of relief.
Teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Highway Police and MSRDC were deployed at the spot to deal with the dire situation, transfer gas from the overturned tanker to other tankers and safely remove the tanker.
Public transport was also affected by the prolonged disruption, with several Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses stranded on the expressway and a large number of regular services cancelled. The incident also disrupted supplies of essential commodities like milk and vegetables, as several cargo vehicles were stranded for hours.