Navi Mumbai: Debris cleaning operation continued for the second day on the Mumbai corridor of the Mumbai-Goa highway in the Kashedi Ghat section, Ratnagiri. A collapsed hillock fell on the highway on Monday, resulting in complete closure of the highway for 12 hours on Monday. The Mumbai-bound traffic was diverted to the Goa-bound carriageway since 2 pm on Monday.Meanwhile, vehicular movement on the flooded stretches of the highway in Pen and Roha talukas, Raigad, was normalised from 5 am on Tuesday after rainwater receded after the rainfall took a break.The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is executing the 84-km-long highway section between Panvel and Indapur, Mangaon taluka, Raigad. The remaining stretch from Indapur to Zarap in Sindhudurg via Ratnagiri is executed by the PWD-National Highway Division.The Goa-bound carriageway was restored for traffic movement on Monday. But the debris heap choked a 250m-300m-long stretch of NH-66. Excavators and other machinery were pressed into the debris-clearing work. No more landslides were reported.A PWD-NH Division engineer, Pankaj Gosavi, said, “The debris removal work on the Mumbai corridor continued throughout Tuesday but likely to be completed late evening.”A press release for the NHAI stretch on Monday said submergence was reported at Kharoshi Phata (Pen) due to swelling of the Patalganga River. The Amba River caused flooding at Wakan Phata, waterlogging was reported at Sukeli Khind due to heavy discharge of rainwater from the hill slopes, and flooding of the canal crossing the highway stretch at Khamb was reported with submergence.The Raigad stretch covering the NHAI section received 300-350 mm rainfall, including 250 mm in the last 24 hours (Sunday-Monday).NHAI regional officer Anshumali Srivastava said, “Our stretch of the highway is cleared for traffic movement.”More than 1,000 people, including tourists stranded in Kolad, Roha, left for their homes after a weekend trip to the Konkan belt.
