Mumbai- A crippling traffic snarl on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway has dragged into its fifth day, trapping thousands of motorists, truckers, and even schoolchildren in a grueling standoff that underscores deep-seated flaws in India’s road infrastructure.
The bottleneck, spanning multiple kilometers around Vasai and Palghar in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, has turned a routine commute into an ordeal. Ambulances inching through endless backups, harried passengers racing against the clock for flights and trains – the fallout from this chaos paints a stark picture of a vital corridor pushed to the brink.
Officials attribute the logjam primarily to ongoing road maintenance efforts, compounded by the rerouting of heavy trucks. As a key artery connecting Maharashtra and Gujarat, NH-48 threads through bustling hubs like Mumbai, Thane, and Pune, fueling commerce and daily life. Yet, while expressways, tunnels, and metro lines sprout swiftly elsewhere in the nation, this essential stretch remains a persistent headache for those who depend on it.
For the swelling population of Vasai-Virar, the highway stands as the sole practical path into Mumbai. Side options, like the Ro-Ro ferry, offer scant relief: lines balloon to 100-125 vehicles, tacking on a minimum of five additional hours to already punishing trips. Senior citizens, sidelined from rail travel, find themselves tethered to this clogged lifeline, amplifying the daily toll.
The crisis peaked Tuesday evening when a convoy of 12 buses ferrying students from grades 5 through 10 – alongside some college-goers from Thane and Mumbai – ground to a halt around 5:30 p.m. near Virar. These children, fresh from a school outing, endured an overnight vigil without access to meals or hydration, PTI news agency reported, citing authorities.
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By nightfall, fatigue and fear gripped the young passengers, with many reduced to tears amid the uncertainty. Anxious guardians bombarded helplines for scraps of reassurance on their loved ones’ well-being.
Local volunteers from a community group sprang into action, distributing water and biscuits to the beleaguered kids and aiding frustrated drivers in threading through the maze of stalled vehicles. “The students were crying due to hunger and exhaustion. It was heartbreaking to see them suffer because of the poor traffic management,” one activist shared with PTI, voice heavy with dismay.
As dawn broke on Wednesday, the stranded buses finally limped free, but the episode laid bare the human cost of neglected roadways. With no swift end in sight to the repairs, commuters brace for more limbo, pleading for urgent fixes to a lifeline that’s become a liability.