Maharashtra Road Transport accidents on the rise

The bus service run by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has reported an increase in accidents. Between April 2018 and October 2019, 43 people on MSRTC buses lost their lives in total. In contrast, between June 2017 and March 2018, seven travellers passed away.

In August 2016, MSRTC began offering a phased-in air-conditioned bus service at cheap rates. Numerous MSRTC buses have experienced serious accidents throughout the state since their inception. As a result, many are hesitant to use these buses.

These buses were involved in 550 accidents between June 2017 and October 2019, according to statistics given by the MSRTC.

Total accidents

1. From June 2017 to October 2019: 550 accidents
2. June 2017 to March 2018: 83 accidents, 7 deaths, 67 injured
3. April 2018 to October 2019: 442 accidents, 43 deaths, 300 injured 

Below mentioned are some of the big MSRTC accidents that have taken place:

On 28th Nov 2020: An MSRTC bus mishap took place on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. The right side of the MSRTC bus, travelling from Satara to Mumbai, was entirely wrecked after colliding with a trailer, resulting in one fatality and 13 injuries. In his testimony to police, the bus’s 48-year-old driver, Jagannath Kisan Raut, said that the trailer driver had slammed into the bus while making a hasty overtake. When the tragedy occurred in Kon village near Panvel at roughly 1.30 am on Thursday, the bus had left Satara on Wednesday night and was travelling to the Patel depot. Sr. PI Daundkar and Assistant Police Inspector Subhash Pujari of the Highway Safety Patrol, Palaspa unit, arrived on the scene after the collision and took the injured people to a hospital.

On 30th Jan 2020: In this mishap, authorities reported that 26 people had died as a result of an accident involving an auto-rickshaw and a bus operated by the MSRTC in the Nashik area. The MSRTC bus was travelling from the neighbouring Dhule district to Kalwan town in Nashik at the time of the accident on Tuesday at about 4 pm, while the auto-rickshaw was travelling in the other direction. The bus and the auto-rickshaw reportedly crashed into a 75-feet-deep hole when the driver of the bus lost control of the vehicle and collided head-on.

On 28th April 2022: When an MSRTC bus rushing down the Shankar Maharaj flyover into Swargate along the busy Pune-Satara Road ploughed through vehicles waiting for a green signal at the Padmavati Traffic Junction, one two-wheeler rider was killed and five others were wounded. The bus hit 7 two-wheelers, and a car got trapped between two buses and an auto-rickshaw. 

On 27th May 2022: At Wagobha Khind in Palghar district of Maharashtra early on Friday, a bus crashed into a 25-feet-deep chasm, injuring at least 15 people, five of whom were critical, according to authorities. According to a police officer, the event happened at approximately six in the morning when the MSRTC bus was travelling from Bhusawal in the Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra to Boisar in Palghar.