TEAM HERALD
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NEW DELHI: Goa’s MPs Francisco Sardinha and Shantaram Naik on Tuesday raised, in their respective Houses, the issue of the tragic accident of a Goa to Mumbai bus, killing at least 37 passengers as it plunged into Jagbudi River in Ratnagiri district early morning, seeking urgent improvement of the National Highway 17 and bridges to avert such mishaps in future.
Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Sardinha urged the Transport Minister to take immediate steps to widen the road used by tourists coming to Goa by buses and cars. He also wanted widening of all small bridges on the highway and strengthen their fencing so that such accidents are never repeated.
In the Rajya Sabha, Shantaram Naik called for widening the Goa-Mumbai national highway on priority basis. He pointed out that the mishap has sent shock waves throughout the Konkan belt. He pointed out that the highway is comparatively narrow and without dividers on most stretches, leading to increasing head-on collisions of vehicles. He also wanted repair of the signboard giving directions and location of speed breakers as they are either damaged or missing.
Referring to a government reply to one of his questions in December, Naik said widening of sections of the highway had been already taken up and the need is to speed up the work. He pointed out the importance of the highway as it passes through four states of Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Raigad’s Shiv Sena MP Anant Geete accused the National Highway Authority of India of sitting over a proposal to widen the bridge where the bus fell in the river for the last one year. The proposal sent out by the state government is to double the width of the bridge from 18 to 40 feet, he said.
Home Minister RR Patil Monday informed the Maharashtra assembly that 828 people have been killed and 2,411 seriously injured in road accidents on the Mumbai-Goa highway in the past three years.
