A worker was killed and another injured after soil from a bridge embankment collapsed during service-road construction on the Pune-Solapur National Highway at Rajwadi in Indapur taluka, Pune district, on October 30, according to a report by Pudhari.
The deceased worker was identified as 20-year-old Masharful Sheikh. The injured worker, also aged 20, was identified as Akhtar. Both workers were reported to be from West Bengal. Akhtar was rescued from the debris and was receiving treatment at the Indapur sub-district hospital.
The workers were carrying out concrete-related work when the soil embankment reportedly gave way. Rescue operations were conducted using a Poklen excavator and a JCB machine, which were used to remove the soil and bring the workers out.
State Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharane visited the site after receiving information about the incident. He described the incident as unfortunate and said action would be taken against those responsible, according to the report.
Indapur tehsildar Jeevan Bansode, police inspector Vilas Nale and local elected representatives also visited the location. The report said officials and local leaders inspected the site after the collapse.
The incident has raised questions about the safety arrangements at an active construction site alongside a highway carrying heavy vehicles. The service-road work was reportedly being carried out with retaining walls in place. However, local Congress office-bearer Nivas Shelke and Ramesh Bhosale alleged that traffic on the flyover remained operational while the embankment work was underway, allowing vibrations from heavy vehicles to affect the soil.
Shelke and Bhosale further alleged that traffic should have been stopped or diverted from the flyover before work began and that the contractor had been repeatedly advised not to disturb the soil embankment. These allegations were included in the Pudhari report and had not been independently established in the material supplied for this report.
The account also said the service road could have been used to divert traffic if movement on the flyover had been halted. The available report did not provide details of the contractor, the project authority, the construction-safety protocol in force at the site, or whether a formal police or departmental investigation had been registered.
The minister’s assurance of action is the next official step identified in the report. Further details on responsibility, site-safety compliance and the condition of the injured worker were not immediately available in the supplied material.
