Latest News For 'Mumbai'
May 21st, 2007
Navi Mumbai: On a lazy Sunday afternoon, Mulund-based car dealer Haresh Bhai Gagwani (42) decided to check out some new cars on sale in Belapur CBD (central business district). The trip to Navi Mumbai helped him nab a fleeing motorist involved in a hit-and-run accident along Palm Beach Road.
“At around 3.45 pm, my uncle and I had reached the Seawoods end of Palm Beach Road, where I was stunned to see a driver in a silver Tata Indigo (MH 06 W 7686) hit a woman and her child while they were crossing the road. The driver did stop a little distance ahead to look back at the damage done, and then fled at a speed of nearly 100 km per hour,’’ recalled Gagwani.
He instinctively started chasing the driver, and even shouted at him to stop, but the accused (later identified as 38-year-old Santoshkumar Balkumar) kept dodging Gagwani to escape on the Palm Beach Road. He even took a sharp U-turn at Belapur to turn back towards Nerul side, but Gagwani managed to block him at the roadside after a 2 km chase.
The victims—27-year-old Josabin Makan Mopan and her seven-month son Sunil Makan Mopan—have been seriously injured in the accident. Josabin is a labourer working at Palm Beach Road.
As soon as Gagwani corned the fleeing driver, he immediately pulled him out and caught him in a bear-like hug so that he did not run away. At the same time, another motorist Amrit Pal Singh, who runs a local crime magazine ‘Gunheshod’ noticed the struggle between Gagwani and the accused driver and immediately called the police wireless van to the spot.
“He (Balkumar) kept threatening me as I held him tight, but I coolly told him not to show his ‘dadagiri’ and actually show some ‘insaniyat’ (humanity), as he had grievously hurt the woman and her child who were still lying on the road,’’ said Gagwani.
Meanwhile, Amrit Pal Singh stopped a motorcyclist to help take the bleeding child to hospital; the woman was still lying motionless, and later taken to a local hospital. Many people had gathered on Palm Beach Road to watch, but none came forward to help Gagwani and Singh.
The accused driver also seemed to be drunk. “If Haresh Bhai had not managed to chase and nab this drunk driver, he probably would have escaped from facing any police action,’’ said Amrit Pal Singh.
Meanwhile, the zonal deputy commissioner of police, Amar Jadhav, said that the accused Balkumar, who is a Nerul-based construction contractor has been arrested for rash and negligent driving under section 279 of the IPC. “We have also sent the accused for a medical test to see if he was drunk,’’ said Jadhav.
Source: TOI(Mumbai epaper)
May 9th, 2007
Navi Mumbai: Five people, including four women, were killed and seven injured when the vehicle in which they were travelling collided with a private bus at Alibaug on the Mumbai-Goa highway on Tuesday morning.
According to the Raigad police, the victims, all residents of Bhandup, were returning to Mumbai from Ratnagiri in a Tata Qualis. When the vehicle reached Veer village (Raigad district) at around 5.45 am, it collided with a Volvo bus coming from the opposite direction and turned turtle, trapping the passengers inside.
Four of the dead are believed to be from the same family. The injured are being treated at KEM hospital.
Source: TOI(Mumbai epaper)
May 7th, 2007
Mumbai: In Mumbai, Alistair Pareira gets 180 days for killing seven people in a drunken-driving episode. In the US, Paris Hilton gets 45 days for violating parole conditions, which included a suspended licence, after being arrested last year for driving under the influence of alcohol.
There is no link between the two incidents and yet there is. The long arm of the law works more effectively in one country and there are no guesses which one.
In India, given the high death rate due to road accidents, there is a growing demand from activists and legal experts for a more stringent law for driving under influence (DUI) of alcohol or DUI offences, as it is referred to in most Western countries. Maharashtra alone recorded over 10,000 road fatalities in 2006.
The lack of stringent laws is best illustrated by the Alistair Pareira case. In the UK, for instance, Pareira would have attracted a maximum of 14 years imprisonment, an unlimited fine, and a cancellation of his driving licence for two years. The sessions judge did say that Pareira was driving carelessly and was drunk but let him off on the more serious offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts 10 years, and instead sent him to jail for six months.
Laws are far more stringent for DUI offences in most developed countries, where rash driving is treated as a serious crime. In Australia, for instance, the police have powers to stop motorists randomly and subject him or her to a breath analyzer without reason. In the US and UK though the police have to give reasons for the breath analyzer test. In India, the breath analyzer is only occasionally used (traffic police in most cities are not equipped with new machines); and a new law on confiscation of a driving licence if any one fails the test is only being contemplated.
The incidence of drunken driving in the West has reduced as a result of tough laws, which set an example. For instance, barely days ago, prosecutors in Los Angeles had filed misdemeanour charges, including drunk driving, against rapper-actress Eve over a traffic accident in Hollywood. Eve was a 2001 Grammy award winner along with Gwen Stefani. In most countries, including India, the permissible blood alcohol limit is 0.05 %—it is lower in case of learners and certain other categories in other countries—and Eve’s test showed up 0.08. She faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. But a statutory minimum sentence would include a minimum of three years probation, a fine of at least $390 and an alcohol education program.
The world over, drunken driving is an offence that also attracts demerit points and a graded punishment that could see the driver losing his licence. In comparison, in India, punishment for the first offence for ‘driving under influence’ of alcohol is a maximum sentence of six months or a fine of Rs 2,000. If a driver gets caught again within three years, he could attract up to two years in jail or a Rs 3,000 fine. These measures, as they stand, are clearly ineffective, say experts. Legal delays ensure that the jail sentence is often an empty threat, and the prescribed fine is barely a deterrent.
Fatal accidents caused by a drunk driver are not even classified as a separate offence under Indian law although Maharashtra has woken up to the dangers of drinking and driving and is now stepping on the gas to make fatal accidents or accidents resulting in grievous injuries a non-bailable offence punishable by at least seven years in jail.
Experts say what is needed is a graded system of punishment for drunk driving cases not involving accidents, as in the UK, Australia, and Switzerland. “The need is to ensure that no person who has consumed alcohol above permissible limits be allowed to drive,” said Mahesh Jethmalani who adds that the idea of punishment is not and should not be vendetta, the aim is to reform people. He suggests a point system for repeat offences and revocation of licences. The only practical difficulty with this idea is that the traffic records are still not computerised and hence it is difficult to track the offender and the multiple offences. Noted defence counsel V R Manohar too says that laws in India need to be amended and fast.
GRADED PUNISHMENT
In the UK, the first driving under influence (DUI) offence can earn the driver demerit points; accumulation of such points can result in a suspension or cancellation of driving licence. In Canada, for the first DUI offence, the laws call for a $600 fine and one-year driving prohibition or jail time; the second DUI offence attracts a 14-day jail term and two years of driving prohibition. There are similar provisions in Victoria and New Zealand. A licence once cancelled in Australia can be re-issued on court orders but the driver is placed at zero tolerance for next three years.
Source: TOI(Mumbai epaper)
May 5th, 2007
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is likely to first finish the construction of seven flyovers on Dr B.R. Ambedkar Road before it commences work on the Peddar Road flyover. This is expected to take some time and further delay the Peddar Road flyover project.
HT has learnt that MSRDC officials have suggested that work on the Peddar Road flyover begin only once the Ambedkar Road flyovers are ready in 15 months.
The 3-km viaduct on Peddar Road was part of the 55 flyovers planned by the Shiv Sena-BJP government in 1996. But it has since been delayed largely due to residents’ protests.
The corporation on Friday said it would not work on both the roads simultaneously as that would effectively cut off South Mumbai from the suburbs. Both Dr B.R. Ambedkar Road — which stretches from Sion Circle to Crawford Market — and Peddar Road — which connects Haji Ali to Chowpatty — link the island city to the suburbs.
MSRDC Chairman and Public Works Minister Anil Deshmukh said the matter was discussed at a meeting called by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday. “We apprised the CM of all the possibilities,” he said. “We haven’t taken a final decision, but we cannot take up all the projects at one time because it would cut off South Mumbai.”.
He added that it was brought to the CM’s notice that traffic on Peddar Road would have to be diverted to Ambedkar Road if work on that flyover begins. However, seven flyovers are already under construc tion on Ambedkar Road, which means work on Peddar Road will have to wait.
Deshmukh said the CM was also told about new technology that would be used on the Peddar Road flyover in response to some of the objections raised by residents’ association. For instance, vision barriers would be used to block the sight of vehicles moving along the flyover to maintain residents’ privacy.
- Proposed Peddar Road flyover to stretch from Haji Ali to Wilson College
- Construction of the 3-km flyover is likely to be delayed by 15 months
- MSRDC told Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh that it cannot simultaneously work on Dr B.R. Ambedkar Road and Peddar Road as that will cut off South Mumbai from suburbs
Source : HT (epaper)
May 3rd, 2007
Mumbai: The JJ flyover is undergoing a pre-monsoon makeover. The flyover, considered a visual treat as well as an engineering marvel, was partially closed on Wednesday as a section of the roadway was resurfaced.
Officials in the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) said this section of the road was prone to flooding. “When there is heavy rain, water tends to collect on the roadway where there is an S curve and this has created potholes in the past which are difficult to fix. So we are cleaning everything up before the monsoon,’’ the official said.
“Work began early on Wednesday morning and it will be finished by late night. The roadway will be open to traffic on Thursday morning,’’ he added.
The flyover inaugurated in May 2002, was built at a cost of Rs 70 crore. It is the longest road bridge in the city, stretching across 2.4 km in one of the busiest areas of the metropolis. Potholes first began appearing on the roadway a few years back and several accidents have occurred when speeding motorists have crashed over dividers. The flyover now has large reflectors on the ground and along the walls to caution drivers as it twists and turns its way through a labyrinth of old buildings. The roadway traverses 22 small and large junctions along its path.
The resurfacing work is being done by Gammon India which had constructed the flyover with Dar Consultants UK acting as consultants. It was Dar Consultants which suggested an innovative design for the flyover, an elevated viaduct on a single pier that would not cut into the road width underneath the flyover, providing enough space for traffic lanes and parking spaces.
Source : TOI (epaper)
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