Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
Seven passengers sustained serious injuries in a head-on collision between a milk pick-up (MH-19-BM-3095) and a tempo traveller (MH-12-VT-5495) near an under-construction flyover on the Solapur–Dhule highway, Khultabad tehsil, at around 5:30 am on Friday.
The pick-up was headed from Chalisgaon to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, while the tempo traveller was transporting devotees from Satara to Ujjain. Single-lane traffic diversion at the flyover site, combined with absent signboards, reflectors, and lighting, is believed to have caused the crash. Villagers aided rescue efforts, and highway police hospitalised the injured.
Injured: Dayaram Rathod (26, Chalisgaon); Vishal Koli (33), Rajshri Ghadge (36), Kavita Pawar (53), Seema Kadam (54), Vaishali Viraj Chavan (40), Sanjay Suresh Veer (40) all from Satara; Nitin Kumar (18) and Sarvan Baitha (19), both from Bihar.
Residents allege that temporary dividers, reflectors, and high-mast lights remain uninstalled despite repeated complaints to the NHAI, continuing to cause accidents due to poor visibility and unclear diversions.