Nashik: The slow pace of Nashik-Pune highway widening along the Nashik Road-Sinnar stretch often puts lives of patients on ambulances at risk.Drivers and doctors on board the ambulances said vehicles get stuck in the frequent traffic snarls, it's a major challenge to maintaining the health and take the critically ill patients or those injured in accidents to health hubs on time.A number of critically ill patients are carried from Sinnar to Nashik city, a distance of nearly 30km, by ambulances (108 service) operated by the Maharashtra Emergency Medical Services daily. Each of these vehicles makes at least two-three trips between Sinnar and Nashik civil hospital in a day.The doctors said though there have been no deaths on the ambulance so far, it's always a tough task to keep the patients' condition stable till hospitalisation.Though the ambulances are equipped with most life-support equipment, there have been several instances of patients becoming critical because of the delay in reaching the hospital owing to the snarls along the stretch — a result of the road widening work.Keeping this in mind, the Nashik Rural police have deployed a force of 12 traffic personnel headed by an officer of the rank of assistant police inspector (API) to streamline the flow of vehicles.API Ashish Adsul (district traffic department) said, "The snarls occur mainly because of lane-jumping by motorists on the Pune highway near Sinnar. By doing this, they end up blocking vehicles from the opposite side. Those trailing such motorists also end up queuing behind them, which ultimately triggers a snarl. By the time the police reach the spots, the main culprits have already found a way out and vanished. But the snarls continue."In the meantime, the decision over removing the trees between Sinnar Phata to the Darna falling in the limits of the Nashik Municipal Corporation. Tree enthusiasts had moved the Bombay high court over hacking 236 trees along the 2.5-km stretch from Sinnar Phata to the Darna.The Bombay high court is likely to pronounce its judgment on the petition soon, a PWD official said.The road widening process was initiated way back in 2010-11 and it was expected that the entire road widening would be over before the Kumbh Mela.

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