15 highway police help centres and control room approved for Samruddhi Mahamarg

Wardha: Accidents are rising on the Samruddhi Mahamarg, traffic rules are being broken, vehicles are being driven at high speed and robberies have also taken place. Amid all this, the safety of travellers has come to the fore. The government has now acted and approved 15 highway police help centres and a separate control room on the expressway.

Minister of State for Home Dr Pankaj Bhoyar had taken the initiative to put an effective policing system in place on Samruddhi. It is said that the approval has finally come after his sustained efforts.

The Home Department has issued a government resolution (Shasanadesh) on the matter. According to the order, 420 regular posts of various cadres have been sanctioned for the police help centres and the control room. This has cleared the way for the full police arrangement to become operational.

The 15 proposed locations are: Wayfal, Yelakeli (Wardha), Dhamangaon-Asegaon, Gavner-Talegaon Shivni, Karanja Lad, Malegaon-Jahangir, Dusarbid, Sindkhed Raja, Nidhona (Jalna), Sawangi (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Hadas-Pimpalgaon, Kokamthan (Shirdi), Gonde-Sinnar, Pimpri Sadrodin (Igatpuri) and Shahapur-Khutghar. The government has also said that a highway police control room will be set up in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

For these posts, the government has approved recurring expenditure of Rs 43,47,33,424 and non-recurring expenditure of Rs 7,45,88,966.

Meanwhile, stone-pelting at vehicles has not stopped in the Karmad area of the expressway. Robberies had occurred earlier, and police have deployed 8 patrol vehicles on the expressway. Despite this, stones were thrown at a moving car and a dumper. The incident took place between chainage 397 and 398 of the expressway.

The car's windscreen was broken and a complaint has been filed with the police. Parmeshwar Panjarkar (42) of Nakshatrawadi was travelling towards Nagpur in an Ertiga car with his friend Amol Patil. At about 10 pm a stone hit the car's windscreen. After the sudden incident, Panjarkar did not stop and drove straight on towards Jalna. At the same time, a dumper heading towards Nagpur was also hit by stones in the same area.