Mumbai: It was the Tuesday jinx. The roof of a BEST double-decker bus was partly sliced off when it rammed into an overhead barricade near Vakola junction, further adding to the traffic chaos. However, no casualty was reported as the upper deck was empty. It remained unclear why the driver was not able to gauge the distance between the overhead barrier and the top deck of the vehicle.
The incident occurred around 10.40am. The double decker bus (No 415) was heading to Santacruz from Bandra when it hit the overhead guard rail near Kalina campus. Incidentally, the bus was proceeding from Andheri Seepz towards Vakola to pick up passengers stranded after the Andheri overbridge collapse. An official explained that BEST had changed bus routes to ferry the stranded passengers. So, it was a new route for the double decker bus, which explains partially whey he was not able to judge the distance.
“A total of 31 buses were arranged from Andheri to different routes. Extra buses were also deployed on the Andheri-Borivli route,” said general manager of BEST Surendrakumar Bagde. Meanwhile, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Amitesh Kumar has issued a traffic advisory for the next few days, asking commuters travelling from Andheri east to Andheri west to go to the Bisleri Junction and take the Teli Galli to Surve Chowk to Andheri subway, and then take the SV Road. Those travelling from west to east are advised to follow the JVPD leading to Mithibai College and then to take the SV Road.