E-Paper
Punekars see red over sudden traffic block, another blast at Chandni Chowk
Much to the shock of Punekars, many were stuck in traffic jams at Chandni Chowk for more than an hour on Monday as another small blast was carried out by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to break the side rocks that remained even after the old bridge at the chowk was demolished at 1 am on October 2 through the ‘controlled blasting’ method
Much to the shock of Punekars, many were stuck in traffic jams at Chandni Chowk for more than an hour on Monday as another small blast was carried out by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to break the side rocks that remained even after the old bridge at the chowk was demolished at 1 am on October 2 through the ‘controlled blasting’ method.
To facilitate this blast, a block of almost an hour was taken on the highway without any prior intimation given by the traffic police department or the NHAI.
As vehicular movement was stopped on the bypass highway for nearly an hour, there were heavy traffic jams all across Chandni Chowk not only on the bypass highway but also towards NDA road, Mulshi road and Bavdhan road. Kiran Pisal, who was among those stuck in the logjam, said, “I was going to work through the bypass highway and got stuck in the long traffic jam as the highway was closed down for a blast to be carried out. We had to wait for more than an hour and no one knew about this block which was taken today. I reached work two hours late. Government authorities should not play with the lives of thousands of citizens by taking such sudden blocks on the highway.”
School students from around eight schools on Mulshi road suffered similarly as their school- buses and vans were stuck in the jam. Some of these buses were ferrying kindergarten kids who panicked owing to the sudden noise from the blast.
The principal of a nearby school on condition of anonymity said, “We were completely unaware about today’s block else we would have given our junior Class students a holiday. As our school buses and vans got stuck in traffic for over an hour, the students’ parents got worried and some of the parents even came to the school to collect their children. The authorities should have informed the nearby schools and offices about this block at Chandani chowk.”
While deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Commissionerate, Anand Bhoite, said, “Today at 2 pm, the blast was carried out at the side rocks of Chandni Chowk to widen the lanes on the highway and for that, a block of around 40 minutes was taken by the NHAI. Till that period, we had blocked the bypass highway from both the sides, but the traffic above the chowk was allowed. A similar block will be taken tomorrow as well at the same time around 2 pm for another blast to be carried out for some more rock side parts to be blasted.”
As there were long queues on the Katraj to Dehu road bypass highway due to the sudden block since the afternoon, some two-wheeler riders manually carried their bikes from one side of the highway to the opposite side. “I was going for some emergency work and even after 30 minutes when the traffic did not move, I decided to lift the bike and carry it to the opposite side of the highway. I was going towards the Katraj side but as there were long queues, I went to the opposite side and then again through another long route, went for my work,” said Satyajit Bendre, a citizen.
