A gasoline tanker overturned on the Mumbai-Pune Parkway, inflicting a 36-hour visitors jam that stranded hundreds. Industrialist Dr. Sudhir Mehta, stuck for hours, was once airlifted to safety. His abilities sparked debate on emergency preparedness and equitable alternate ideas for commuters.
Web site visitors jams could well also be both aggravating and worsening after being stuck to your vehicle for prolonged hours, surrounded by never-ending lines of vehicles and not using a cease in look.A equivalent scene looks to get came about on the Mumbai-Pune Parkway as we whisper, when a gasoline tanker flipped over, turning a busy route into a automotive automotive car automobile parking space.
Thousands of parents, along side families with children, were trapped overnight without straightforward get entry to to food or restrooms.
Mumbai-Pune Parkway Nightmare Ends After 32 Hours Exposing Gaps In Emergency Response
Whereas one would helplessly expect the jam to sure up and get residence, an industrialist defied the percentages and selected to be airlifted as a substitute – comparatively literally!
Meet Sudhir Mehta: The Pune affluent individual who heli-hopped out of the 36-hour Mumbai-Pune Parkway jam (photo: @sudhirmehtapune/ X)
The jam turmoil on the Pune-Mumbai dual carriageway
The trouble started around 5 PM on February 3, 2026, when a speeding tanker carrying propylene gasoline lost preserve watch over on a slope advance the Adoshi tunnel and overturned.Authorities seen a gasoline leak straight away, forcing a stout visitors shutdown in the direction of Mumbai to lead sure of any that that you would be able to possibly presumably name to mind wretchedness. What started as a native snag modified into chaos, with jams lasting up to 36 hours in some spots, stranding lakhs of vehicles, along side buses and vehicles. Commuters confronted though-provoking nights – many females and children went without water, snacks, or get entry to to bathrooms.
Man gets airlifted amid the 36-hour visitors jam!
NDTV reported that Dr. Sudhir Mehta, stuck address all and sundry else, organized a chopper after eight hours of frustration.
From the sky, the gridlock looked unreal, address a snake of vehicles stretching for miles. Dr. Sudhir Mehta posted a video of the identical on X: “Lakhs of parents are stuck on the #Mumbai #Pune freeway for the last 18 hours for ‘one gasoline tanker’,” he wrote in his post.He also suggested smarter alternate ideas, address extra emergency exits and helipads every few kilometres. “Helipads payment now not up to Rs 10 lakhs to invent and require now not up to one acre of originate house.
These will get to be an awfully great at assorted parts advance the freeway for emergency evacuation,” he added.One photo showed him subsequent to the pilot; others published the never-ending backup from above. He thanked Nitin Welde, an air outdated skool and helicopter consultant, who helped invent it happen, as Mehta wrote in his X post.
Who is Sudhir Mehta?
Dr. Sudhir Mehta is a prominent figure in India’s auto substitute. He is the Chairman and Managing Director of Pinnacle Industries, based mostly in 1996 in Pithampur, which makes seats, interiors, and parts for vehicles and railways.In 2022, he based mostly EKA Mobility for electrical buses and commercial EVs, partnering with Japan’s Mitsui and the Netherlands’ VDL Groep. They launched their first bus with Minister Nitin Gadkari in attendance.A serial entrepreneur and dilapidated head of CII Western Plight and MCCIA Pune, his earn worth sits around $7.58 billion in 2025 estimates, ranking him globally.
Social media pours in criticism
Social media was once flooded with combined reactions. A user puzzled, “Why will we desire a helipad? Can’t they land on the dual carriageway compatible address how it happens in Dubai? Especially on newly constructed highways?”One more puzzled, “How will a helipad solve the converse? How many can it evacuate from the lakhs stranded on the dual carriageway?”One more commuter vented, “I obtained stuck for 12 hours and was once very inflamed… Lack of empathy for aam aadmi (fashioned taxpayer) is bothering.” Calls grew for accountability, better-ready civic our bodies, and proper alternate ideas previous elite escapes.
