PONDA: An accident among seven vehicles at the old Opa-Khandepar junction two days ago has renewed public angst over the government’s apathy in a long-standing issue.
They said that the absence of an approach road to the new Khandepar bridge is the source of the conundrum at the old junction, which is used as a diversion for heavy NH-4A traffic that enters from the highway’s service road.
The Khandepar bridge was inaugurated back in 2018, but despite half a decade having lapsed since then, the government is yet to construct an approach road to the bridge.
This sheer vehicular density at the old Opa-Khandepar junction, therefore, has not only caused numerous accidents, but also poses a grave risk to the lives of hundreds of students who wait at that point, day in and day out, to catch a bus to their respective schools. The absence of a bus shed in which the students could have safely waited has only increased fears among parents who say that their wards are forced to wait alongside the busy road and risk being mowed down by unruly motorists.
“We, the parents of Khandepar and Usgao, fear sending our children to school after the scary accident a couple of days ago. The site of the accident is the same spot at which our children wait to catch their respective buses to school. Fortunately, the mishap occurred in the evening and no one was hurt. The situation could have been a lot more serious if it had to happen during school hours,” said Suraj Garad, who is chairman of a parent-teacher association at a school in Khandepar.
He asked whether the government would act only after a tragedy occurred. “We want the state to take immediate action and complete the ramp to the Khandepar bridge so that traffic can take the bridge instead of coming down to the old junction via the service road,” he said.
Local resident Mangaldas Naik urged the State to complete the Rs 130 crore approach road using its own funds and to later recover this amount from the central government, instead of waiting for the latter to sanction the expenditure.
Highway authorities, meanwhile, said a tender for construction of the approach road to the bridge has already been floated and that work will begin soon after the monsoon and get completed by December this year.
