To curb the rising number of fatal road accidents on Mumbai-Pune Expressw-ay, the state on Wednesday announced the introduction of a world-class automated surveillance system on the stretch. The announcement was made by public works (public undertakings) minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar in the legislative Assembly on Wednesday. Mr Kshirsagar said that the system, which has been designed by the Delhi-based Science and Technology Institute, will be introduced in the next two months. The system will help the state identify errant motorists, who are found to be over-speeding or driving rashly. The system will also provide the control room with pictures of the number plates and the driver for further action. “The control room will accordingly take action against the guilty,” he added. Mr Kshirsagar further informed the House that the MSRDC has decided to install high tensile steel wire rope barriers in the highly-accident prone four-km stretch of the Expressway. He also said that the government has directed the collectors of Pune and Raigad to remove advertisements and signboards on the Expressway because they are in violation of the rules. The issue of increased accidents on the Expressway was raised by BJP MLA Sudhir Mung-antiwar during the question hour. Mr Mungan-tiwar claimed that the Expressway had turned into a death trap, and that the death toll was higher than the number of deaths of soldiers on the border.
