Unauthorized Hoardings Pose Risk to Life Along Pune-Nashik Highway
Pune, 18th April 2023: Numerous unauthorized hoardings have been erected along the old Pune-Nashik highway and the recently constructed outer ring road. At the ST bus station, large hoardings with iron frames have been placed on both sides of the entrance and exit gates, posing a risk of loss of life if they collapse due to strong winds or other reasons.
On Monday (17th April), five people died after an unauthorized hoarding collapsed in Kiwale. This incident has brought the issue of hoarding to the forefront. The National Highway restricts the placement of hoardings and construction within fifty feet on both sides of the old Pune-Nashik highway, and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has erected notice boards to this effect.
However, a large number of hoardings and unauthorized shops have been established on both sides of the old Pune-Nashik highway. On the south and north sides of the bus stand, large hoardings are placed along the highway. Underneath these hoardings are a pan masala shop, a juice center, a Katraj milk dairy product stall, and a vada pav stall, where passengers sit in the shade. There is a risk of loss of life if the hoardings collapse due to strong winds or other reasons.
A bypass road has been constructed for the Pune-Nashik highway, for which the NHAI has acquired sixty meters of land on both sides from the middle, and the land acquisition money has been paid to the landowners. Currently, a four-tier bypass road of 30 meters in width has been constructed, leaving 15 meters of space on both sides.
In this space, local landowners have rented space to billboard professionals, who have set up around 20 unauthorized hoardings in the past year along the five-kilometer-long bypass road. A notice was issued to the concerned authorities after complaints were received, but no action was taken after that.
Builder Shankar Pate has stated that if an accident occurs due to the fall of an unauthorized hoarding, a case of culpable homicide should be filed against the NHAI officials who are delaying the work and the owner of the space who rents it out for unauthorized hoarding placement.
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