Passengers of a Sanjay Travels bus faced severe hardship after the bus broke down in a forest area between Jalna and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in the early hours of Saturday. The bus, which was on its way to Mumbai, broke down around 3 am and left about 40 passengers stranded for several hours without proper help. According to passengers, the bus developed a serious mechanical problem when its air pipe burst at around 3 am. After that, the vehicle could not move further. The breakdown occurred in a jungle stretch of Samruddhi Expressway which caused fear and discomfort among the passengers, especially women and elderly people.

 

Despite repeated calls to Sanjay Travels, no replacement vehicle was arranged till 10.30 am. A mechanic reached the spot only in the morning, nearly eight hours after the bus stopped. During this long wait, passengers said they had no access to food or drinking water. Passenger Dinesh Topale from Nagpur said, “We were stuck in the jungle since night. There was no food, no water, and no information from the travel company.” Another passenger, Bharti Gulhane from Nagpur, said the situation was very stressful. “Women and children suffered the most. We kept waiting for help, but nothing came,” she said. Other passengers include Arvind Pawar and Tanvi Parmar from Mumbai, and Manthan Bhalavi, Yogesh Shelke, Rutuja Shende, and Tanvi Parmar from Nagpur. Passengers have demanded strict action against Sanjay Travels for negligence. They said travel companies must ensure passenger safety and arrange immediate help in such emergencies.