MSRDC to seek IIT-B help in surveying landslide spot

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has roped in the Indian Institute Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) to conduct a survey of the location near Adoshi tunnel that faced three landslides in the last one month.

The state-run MSRDC will be taking technical suggestions from the premier institution over preventing landslides in the future.

A MSRDC officer said that they previously had not identified the spot on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway in earlier surveys. IIT-B is expected to submit its survey report in a few days.

“We have asked for the temporary as well as a permanent solution to avoid landslides at this spot,” the officer said. “We will be able to implement whatever the IIT suggests only after the monsoon season is over,” officer added.

Landslides are not a new phenomenon on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. Though many recent landslides did not cause any major damage, their frequency has made the MSRDC to take additional precautions.

In 2015, two Mumbai residents, Shashikant Dhamankar (50) and Deepak Patel,  were killed and three women were  injured at the mouth of Adoshi tunnel after landslide debris that came down to hit their car, in the second such incident that year.