Incessant heavy rains in Mumbai and Pune led to a significant landslide on the newly opened Mumbai-Pune Missing Link. This event caused a major disruption in traffic flow between the two cities. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) attributed the incident to natural causes, describing it as an “Act of God.”
Following the landslide, an MSRDC official defended the construction team, stating that the contractor was not responsible and that the event was purely due to natural factors. Despite implementing landslide mitigation measures and designs, the operational capabilities had limitations, as clarified by MSRDC. An official from the corporation labeled the incident as a divine act, mentioning the deployment of rockfall prevention measures certified by IIT-Bombay at the site.
The massive boulders that fell originated from a considerable height of nearly 150 meters. The official highlighted the challenges of mitigating such disasters during intense rainfall, referring to it as ‘divine wrath-like’ conditions. Plans are underway to inspect the rocks post-rainfall and assess the possibility of extending the protective netting higher up the slope, although this process would be costly and require forest department approval.
