Dna investigation: faulty road design to blame for charoti tanker explosion: report

A month after the incident, an inspection of the site was carried out by the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Thane, wherein it was found that the location where the incident occurred had

problems, making it accident-prone. File photo of Charoti naka, near which a diesel tanker exploded in 2014 Remember the incident at Charoti Naka two years ago on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway

wherein a diesel tanker with 35,000 litres had blasted, killing 10 and injuring 13? The reason behind the accident was faulty design road design. A month after the incident, an inspection of

the site was carried out by the Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Thane, wherein it was found that the location where the incident occurred had problems, making it accident-prone. It had

happened over two years ago, on March 22, 2014, after IRB Infrastructure Developers had started collecting toll for widening and maintaining the Surat-Dahisar Highway stretch of this

national highway. The petroleum tanker belonging to Reliance was Mumbai-bound and had turned turtle and blown up as the hydrocarbon had started leaking soon after. The report submitted by

Thane RTO reads, "At the time of inspection of said tanker and road condition and alignment of road at accident spot, it (is) observed that road design at accident spot seems to be

faulty. Super elevation of road is not proper and road banking is also not as per requirement." Due to faulty road design at Charoti Naka, off Dahanu, "so many heavy vehicles

coming from Surat to Mumbai topples down on this spot frequently," (sic) mentioned the report by MB Jadhav, then regional transport officer, Thane, and also secretary for road safety

committee, Thane. But soon after the accident, the police at Kasa booked the deceased tanker driver for death due to negligence, rash driving, and endangering life. The report recommended

conducting road safety audit on national highway 8 keeping in mind the acute turn, blind turns, accident spots and road designing such as super elevation and road banking. dna had sent a

detailed questionnaire to IRB Infrastructure Developers to respond if any corrections were made at the accident site after the incident, or what measures were taken to ensure an

accident-free Charoti Naka, but there wasn't any response from the firm.