Maharashtra floods: NH 4 closed beyond Satara for 4th day
Apart from the 5,000 trucks and heavy vehicles already stranded on the highway, an estimated 1,000 additional trucks and heavy vehicles added to the long queues near Satara
On Friday, national highway (NH 4) connecting Mumbai and Bengaluru continued to remain closed for the fourth day beyond Satara, as the flood situation in Sangli and Kolhapur continued to be grim.
Apart from the 5,000 trucks and heavy vehicles already stranded on the highway, an estimated 1,000 additional trucks and heavy vehicles added to the long queues near Satara on the highway.
Milk supply from Kolhapur and Sangli districts to Pune stood affected with brands like Warna and Gokul having stopped their supply. Chitale Dairy, however, had stepped up milk supply to the city.
Kedar Chitale, partner, Chitale Dairies said, “Till now we have not faced disruption from our dairies in Sangli district as our vehicles are taking another route to come to Pune. But yes we have stopped production of all other dairy products and are only concentrating on supply of milk to the city. We require around 4.5 lakh liltres of milk daily and hopefully as the water recedes, things will improve in the next couple of days.”
“The situation is getting worse day by day and all our drivers and staff workers are being held back due to safety reasons near Satara, Ichalkaranji and parts of Sangli district. We can understand that the roads are closed but this is causing a major loss to business and clients are waiting for their deliveries. We hope and pray that this flood situation clears as early as possible,” said Baba Shinde, president Maharashtra State goods and passengers transport association.
All passenger transport, including private tourist buses going towards Kolhapur, Bangalore and Goa have been halted.
“In view of the flood situation, we have stopped all our operations from Pune on the NH4 route. No passenger buses are going beyond Satara.” said Kishore Tambat, owner of Sangram Tours and travels.
At Satara, area residents were providing assistance to people stuck on NH4. Pratik Mahajan, member of Digvijay Tarun Mandal from Satara said they have been providing meals and breakfast to people stranded on the highway.
Water from the Panchganga river has flooded parts of the highway around Kolhapur.
Kolhapur district officials said that water is flowing at 53 feet at the Rajaram barrage, at least 10 feet above the danger mark. Reduced rainfall and release of water downstream from the Almatti dam was expected to ease the crisis.
