Pune, Vehicular traffic on the busy Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway was disrupted on Wednesday due to a farmers’ protest on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border, prompting police to advise commuters to avoid the route and request Google Maps to mark the affected stretch as closed.
Inspector General of Police, Kolhapur Range, Ranjan Kumar Sharma advised people to use alternative routes. The police have also written to Google Maps authorities, requesting to mark the affected stretch of National Highway no. Farmers have been staging the protest over sugarcane prices, ethanol rates and other demands since Tuesday morning. The police have identified two alternative routes for the convenience of travellers – one passing through Satara, Rahimatpur, Vita, Tasgaon, Miraj, Gokak and Belagavi, and the second through Satara, Karad, Islampur, Ashta, Miraj, Kagwad, Gokak and Belagavi. The police have requested Google Maps to display alerts about the road closure, inform commuters about traffic congestion and delays, and refrain from directing vehicles through the affected stretch until the agitation ends.
The police urged commuters to avoid travelling on NH-48 unless necessary, as the agitation led to traffic congestion and the situation may take time to normalise. 48 as closed due to the agitation underway at the Kognoli toll plaza in Karnataka along the Maharashtra border.
The platform has also been asked to suggest alternative routes, he said. The situation remained unchanged on Wednesday morning, as per the office of Pune Range Superintendent of Police Dr Shivaji Pawar.
