Restriction of heavy vehicle movement worsens traffic woes at NH48, 16-month-old a casualty

A ban on heavy vehicles on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway worsened traffic, leading to a tragic death of a child due to delayed medical help.

MUMBAI: Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde’s recent banning of heavy vehicles on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway and Ghodbunder Road from midnight till 6 am was meant to solve the perennial traffic jams on the stretch. However, by all accounts, it has only served to worsen the situation. On Thursday evening, an injured 16-month-old child became a casualty after his family’s car was trapped for hours in a 20 km-to 25-km-long traffic jam on NH-48.

Thane, India - September -19, 2025:: After residents of Ghodbunder Road, distressed by frequent traffic jams, staged a protest on September 16, heavy vehicles were banned from entering the road during the daytime. Traffic police can be seen at Nagla Bandar enforcing this entry ban on heavy vehicles. ,in Thane ,in Mumbai, India, on, Friday, September -19, 2025. ( Praful Gangurde / HT Photo )

Ryan Shaikh, a resident of Kurla, who was at his grandmother’s house in Pelhar in Vasai taluka, fell off her fourth-floor balcony while playing. He was rushed to Galaxy Hospital in Vasai, where his parents were advised to rush him to a hospital in Mumbai. The family looked for an ambulance, but none were available due to the heavy traffic on the highway. Forced to take the child to Mumbai by private vehicle, they left at around 2.30 pm but were stuck in the endless traffic jam. When Ryan’s condition deteriorated, the family rushed him to a small hospital in Sasunavghar where doctors declared him dead.

The child’s death shocked the entire area. “The real causes of this tragedy are the gross traffic lapses on the highway, poor roads and the lack of priority given to emergency services,” said local social worker Sushant Patil. Meanwhile, BJP MLA Sneha Dubey said the child’s death was “unfortunate”. “The traffic jams are due entirely to mismanagement on the part of the police,” she said. “I have made a demand to withdraw the restriction on heavy vehicles from 6 am to 12 am and ordered the police to manage the situation better.”

For thousands of commuters and heavy vehicle drivers, Thursday and Friday were a living hell. According to the traffic police, there are around 25,000 heavy vehicles plying daily towards Thane or Virar via Ghodbunder Road, along with thousands of four-wheelers. After Shinde issued the advisory to pacify the residents of Ghodbunder and Thane, thousands of heavy vehicles were pulled over by the police and asked to park on the side of the highway.

“They are just stopping us with no prior warning,” said the driver of a trailer going towards Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. “We have to sit and twiddle our thumbs for over 18 hours. There are no rest stops, no drinking water, no parking lots, not even service roads to park. We have demanded the withdrawal of the notification and expect immediate action from the police administration.”

Even residents of Thane said that the situation had only worsened with Shinde’s notification. “It is not possible for 25,000 heavy vehicles to pass in six hours from 12 am to 6 am,” said activist Shraddha Rai from the NGO ‘Zimmedar Kaun’ who led a commuter protest two days ago in Ghodbunder. “The backlog will cause a problem, and since heavy vehicles do not follow lane discipline, once they are allowed to go, they cover all the three or four lanes on each carriageway of the highway, making it impossible for smaller vehicles to move.”

While Ryan died even before crossing the Dahisar check naka, another woman who was discharged after a five-day stay at Bhaktivedanta Hospital, had to sit for over five hours on the roadside at Fountain Hotel, as her father’s vehicle was stuck in the traffic jam at Vasai. “My father left Boisar five hours ago to pick me up but has still not reached,” she sai