Devendra Fadnavis admits delay in Pune Expressway response, SOP to be introduced

Acknowledging the delay in response Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that neither the companies involved nor the government machinery was fully prepared to handle the situation on the Pune Expressway following the hazardous gas tanker accident as it was the first time they had faced such an incidentSpeaking in the state legislative assembly on Saturday Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said a new Standard Operating Procedure SOP is being worked out to plug the gaps and ensure better coordination during future emergencies He was replying to a debate following the Pune Expressway gas leakage accident that sparked serious safety concerns in the HouseBack storyEarly this month massive traffic jams were reported on the PunendashMumbai Expressway after a tanker carrying highly flammable propylene gas overturned at the Adoshi tunnel in Raigad district on Tuesday evening leading to a major gas leak The accident caused over 30 hours of severe congestion The gas leak forced the closure of a key route leaving thousands of commuters stranded and raising serious questions about the statersquos emergency preparednessTransporting materialsBJP Mumbai unit president and MLA Ameet Satam questioned whether proper checks were carried out when the dangerous and highly inflammable material was being transported He asked if the tanker was inspected before starting its journey and whether clear rules and regulations exist for vehicles carrying such hazardous substancesAditya Thackeray suggestsShiv Sena UBT MLA Aditya Thackeray said the incident was a serious biochemical risk and pointed out that poor road conditions including potholes can increase the danger during transportation of hazardous material He further suggested that such tankers should have predefined routes and only travel on smooth wellmaintained roads The MLA from Worli assembly constituency further stressed the need for proper hazmat response systems and clear evacuation plans for people and vehicles in case of an emergencyNCP suggest use of a helicopter and a technologydriven message systemSharad Pawarled NCP leader and MLA Jayant Patil said the government should consider having a dedicated helicopter to ferry emergency response teams to accident spots He pointed out that due to heavy traffic even agencies involved in relief operations found it difficult to reach the site on time ldquoThe use of a helicopter could save time and ensure a faster responserdquo Patil said The veteran NCP leader even suggested a digitaldriven communication system to keep commuters informedGovernment to have a SoPsChief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he personally felt that the response to the incident was delayed and could have been much faster ldquoThis type of accident happened for the first time The companies handling such hazardous materials were not fully prepared with proper rescue operations or a clear SoP to follow For the government too this was a completely new case study It is a wakeup call and we are preparing a proper SoP to handle such situations in the futurerdquo Fadnavis saidThe Chief Minister also assured that suggestions made by Aditya Thackeray and Jayant Patil would be considered ldquoUnfortunately we do not have night landing and flying facilities for helicopters But whatever best can be done we will do and ensure a proper SOP is in placerdquo he addedFadnavis further mentioned that the government will work on improving communication with citizens during such emergencies and will explore whether IMS which allows delivery of messages to users across different network services alerts can be sent directly to people on their mobile phonesToll charges to be returnedPratap Sarnaik Transport Minister mentioned that a decision has been taken to refund the toll collected on the disruption day