Mumbai: Despite the accident on Saturday in which 30 persons lost their lives and one survived after a bus, they were travelling in fell into a gorge off the Poladpur-Mahabaleshwar road in Raigad, the Public Works Department (PWD) officials are denying that the road is allegedly risky and stressed that the route was straight and wide enough and hence did not need any safety railings.

However, after the incident, now the PWD is gearing up to install safety measures to avoid any future accidents. “The road was very straight with no dangerous turns and hence we did not place safety railings all over the stretch. Ghats have railings where it is needed, here the road is straight and wide enough, and hence there was no railings required. The road was completely clear and did not have any loose gravels or soil to cause accident,” said an executive engineer from PWD department, in-charge of the maintenance of that stretch.

He further added, “Our senior officials are going to visit the site tomorrow and necessary safety measures will be taken.”  Ambenali ghat is 40 km long connecting Poladpur to Mahabaleshwar. “The ghat had railings elsewhere, leaving that particular stretch where the accident happened. The authorities wait for a mishap to happen,” said Sanjay Kadam, local NCP MLA.

“Due to expressway, the route is not accessed by heavy vehicles since many years,” a spokesperson from Bhagi-rathi travels, which takes regular trips to Mahabaleshwar said. “The ghat is well maintained and is wide enough too. But it lacks railings at 5-6 points,” said a local.