PONDA: Two passengers were injured after a passenger bus climbed over a divider at Kerya four-lane road Monday morning. One of the passengers received a fracture while another received minor injuries. The other passengers had a lucky escape since nothing major happened.
The bus which was enroute from Mollem to Ponda on a straight road, climbed a divider at extreme right-hand side and rested on the divider and was facing dangerously in the opposite direction. The accident occured at Kerya Khandepar four lane highway after the driver lost control over the vehicle . Luckily no vehicle from opposite side was moving on road
The driver of the bus said the road at Kerya has caved in and due to this he lost control over bus. There were 20 passengers in the bus. Following the accident, locals shifted injured to Ponda Sub District Hospital.
Locals including Curti Khandepar Sarpanch said the Kerya four lane road embankment was made by filling mud in a huge valley. The surface has becomeuneven as road has caved in at many places and so the drivers need to take care while driving on this road. Due to uneven surface of road, vehicles suddenly jump due to the depression on the road. He said it’s a wake up call for national highway authorities to inspect the road and improve its alignment. He said he will write to the NH authorities to inspect road condition.
Meanwhile the Kerya-Khandepar locals said there is no street light functioning on road and due to this the road stretch has become risky for driving at night. The uneven surface may lead to more accidents in future and stressed that the road should be levelled.
It may be recalled that some six years back the road was converted into a four-lane road and the huge valley at Kerya was filled up for four laning and road widening.
Locals fear that due to underground springs the road may cave in. Locals also said that the road has caved in near the Khandepar Chapel and before any untoward incident takes place, the traffic police and NH authorities conduct joint inspection to adopt safety measures and road improvement.
