PONDA: Around a month ago, the locals of Curti-Khandepar had, with the help of the authorities concerned, cleared the trucks parked on both sides of the four lane National Highway, as they claimed it had turned into an accident-prone zone. Following this, the truck drivers began parking a short distance away, on the two-lane Highway located within the jurisdiction of the Bethora Panchayat.
Angered by the hundreds of trucks taking up highway space in the busy area, the locals of Bethora complained to their Sarpanch Umesh Gaude, who took up an an eviction drive and cleared all the trucks parked along a two-kilometre stretch of the Bethora-Borim highway on Monday morning.
“This has been creating a nuisance for the past month. Considering the risk to the lives of the locals, the panchayat will also install signboards to prevent trucks parking on the Bethora Borim Bypass road,” said Gaude.
However, the truckers complain that they do not have a parking terminus ,despite the fact that their services are essential for the Industries Estates in the area. Recently, Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik had inspected the Sanjivani Sugar Factory land, as the government may consider using it as a truck parking facility.
