Stop crashes on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, demands social activist

Mumbai, Jan 19 (IANS) Renowned social worker Sindhutai Sapkal on Thursday served an eight-day ultimatum to the Maharashtra government to make travel on the accident-prone Mumbai-Pune Expressway safer, failing which she would launch an agitation.

"How many more lives must be lost? This killer expressway has already claimed thousands of lives, including celebrities, but the authorities are simply not concerned," an agitated Sapkal told media persons.

The 69-year-old social worker's anger stemmed from witnessing what could have been a major road accident near Ursi, Talegaon section, on the expressway late Wednesday night.

Though the disaster was barely averted, a shaken Sapkal who was travelling from Mumbai to Pune, stepped out of her vehicle and gave a dressing down to the IRB agency staffers manning the toll tax booths there.

"The government is collecting toll from us, yet there is no guarantee of safety of the passengers on the expressway... How many more people should be killed before you do something?" an irate Sapkal demanded.

She announced that if the government failed to take remedial action in the matter "within eight days", she would lead an agitation with thousands of people on the expressway.

On Wednesday night, a bus barely escaped being crashed into by a a speeding vehicle on the expressway near Ursi where Sapkal's vehicle was waiting at the toll booths. The bus was carrying 20 women and several children. The crash would have spelt several casualties.

Married off at the age of ten, Sapkal -- affectionately known as 'Mother of Orphans' -- is revered for her work among destitute girls and orphans across Maharashtra and other parts of India.

Deserted by her 20 years older husband a few years after marriage, Sapkal started begging for a living and caring for the scores of hungry orphans roaming the streets in her native Wardha district.

She gave her own daughter to an orphanage trust in Pune to eliminate any feelings of "partiality" or discrimination with the other orphans and has till date reared over 1,000 children as their mother.

Her guilt-ridden husband returned after several decades and she welcomed him, but this time as her 'son'. They stay at her ashram in Pune.

In 2010, eminent film-maker Anant Mahadevan made a biopic on her life and travails in Marathi, "Mee Sindhutai Sapkal", which was selected for a world premier at the 54th London Film Festival.

Besides, Sapkal has been conferred with honours and awards in India and abroad for her sterling work among orphans.

The 95-km long Yeshwantrao Chavan Mumbai-Pune Expressway was opened for operations in 2002, drastically cutting down travel time between the state capital and the academic-IT-culture capital Pune.