In fact, traffic police have acknowledged that this is a grave issue, but expressed the inability to deal with it effectively without the cooperation of these commuters.
Shailesh Rajurkar, an employee of Alfa Laval, explained, “A stretch from Dapodi to Kasarwadi on the way to Mumbai has an entrance and exit for four major industries -Alfa Laval, Forbes Marshall, Sandvik and Atlas Corp. Many more industries are located behind these four. Several employees have to take lanes joining the highway at this particular stretch. When their shifts end around 4-6 pm, many are seen driving or riding the wrong way, in hurry to get to the road going towards Pune. They try and avoid travelling a bit towards the Mumbai side, taking a U-turn and then heading to Pune.“
A security guard at Sandvik shared on condition of anonymity, “The Old PuneMumbai Highway is around 61 metres wide and the service roads on both sides are each just 15 metres wide. Commuters taking the wrong way often occupy the entire width, leaving only the highway for regular traffic.Four-wheelers and two-wheelers are both regularly seen travelling in the wrong direction, posing the risk of bad accidents. But when the shifts end for the day, the situation gets exacerbated.“
Pimpri resident D Amrutraj shared, “Autorickshaw and tempo drivers are often rash, even when taking the wrong side. Even when I’m on the right side of the road, I face the risk of an accident.“ Shafil Pathan, assistant police inspector of Bhosari traffic police, confirmed this development, saying, “Employees and regular commuters going towards Pune often take the wrong flank on the service road. We slap a fine on 700-800 violators per month, but numbers do not go down. Every two months, we conduct a special drive to get hold of these traffic violators. Last month, 20-25 police personnel, including officials, constables and wardens, were deployed on the road from Harris Bridge to Kalasagar Hotel from 10 am to 2 pm for this purpose,“ said Pathan.
Bhimrao Gajare, assistant police inspector of Pimpri traffic police, added, “We slap a fine on 10-15 employees of Hindustan Antibiotics Limited or the parents of students of Hindustan Antibiotics School every day.They mostly go towards Sant Tukaramnagar or D Y Patil College, taking the wrong way on the road to head to Pune. It is the moral responsibility of commuters to follow traffic rules and avoid such activities at least on highways. How can we compel companies to inculcate habits among their employees? No accident has been reported due to these traffic violations as of now.“
Source : Mirror