With the rain and long weekend concocting a perfect mix for a short vacation, traffic at most major roads in Thane and surrounding areas came to a standstill on Friday with scores of people travelling out of the city.
The worst-hit were the Mumbai-Nashik Highway, Eastern Express Highway and Ghodbunder Road. Potholes on the Mumbai-Nashik Highway added to the woes of the commuters who were stuck for hours in the traffic. Even ambulances found it difficult to commute from the highway.
“Getting out of the city has become a nightmare. Even if we have planned a holiday, we must think about leaving the house well in advance considering the traffic jam. The roads are pathetic with potholes. I planned to go to Nashik with my family. It is a three-hour drive but one hour went only on the Kalyan-Bhiwandi stretch itself on Friday morning,” said Sudeep Shinde, 38, a Kalyan resident.
At least 100-150 traffic police officers and wardens were deployed along the Thane- Bhiwandi stretch on the national highway. The traffic police also claimed that they called up the contractors on Thursday and Friday to fill up the potholes as roads on most parts of the stretch are hardly visible due to the potholes.
Datta Kamble, DCP, Traffic, Thane, said, “The road is very bad with potholes, which is the major reason for the slowing down of vehicles. On Thursday and Friday, the traffic was hit on both sides from Mumbai to Nashik and Nashik to Mumbai. We called up the contractor to fill up the potholes as much as possible. Our traffic police officers and wardens were working round the clock to man the traffic.”
Traffic jams were also reported on the several internal roads of Thane city, especially the Majiwada Circle, Teen Hath Naka.
“The road on the highway is in a very bad condition with potholes. Sometimes, vehicles even break down on the road, affecting traffic. Not every area has a traffic cop to man the vehicular movement. They are there only at certain points. Every monsoon, the situation gets worse and the authorities fail to take the necessary steps,” said Surendra Naik, who takes the stretch to connect Thane from Bhiwandi for work daily.
Daily office goers also blamed the entry of heavy vehicles in the city limits despite their movement being restricted during the peak hours.
“The Thane traffic police had introduced specific non-peak hour timings for heavy vehicles. However, apart from this, we can see few heavy vehicles in the city during peak hours, leading to congestion,” said Sneha Prajapati, 39, who drives from Bhiwandi to Mumbai every day for work.
When asked regarding the potholes on the Mumbai-Nashik stretch, an officer from MSRDC said, “Our contractors are working round the clock on the stretch, filling the potholes wherever it is reported. As soon as it stops raining, they take up filling the potholes. However, this can be done temporarily for now. Once the rain stops, proper road repair with asphalting will be undertaken across the stretch.”
School procession leads to traffic congestion
Heavy traffic jam was reported across Birla College Road-Khadakpada-Adharwadi-Shivaji Chowk as thousands of students from various schools of Kalyan took the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ procession in the city ahead of the Independence day. Vehicles were stuck for hours as one entire stretch was dedicated for the procession.
Jai Nair, 42, a Kalyan resident who was stuck in the traffic, said, “How come the authorities give permission for such a procession during the morning peak hours. They could have kept it in the afternoon hours. I was stuck between Adharwadi and Khadakpada for almost an hour.”
Auto rickshaw stands also saw long queues as the three-wheelers could not reach the stands on time due to the traffic jam.
Mahesh Tarde, senior police inspector, Kalyan traffic unit, said, “The procession was called jointly by the schools, police and civic authorities and it was planned well in advance. Since they were children, we had to dedicate one side of the road for them. Also, we had sufficient staff deployed on the street to man the traffic.”
