Traffic snarls due to ‘poor’ road condition: BJP leaders sit on pothole-ridden highway stretch to mark their protest

The travel time between Surat and Mumbai by NH-48 is six hours, but on account of damages caused to it since the onset of monsoon, one now takes two additional hours to complete the journey through a “damaged” stretch in Valsad. The situation is similar on NH-848 where Manhar and other leaders staged the protest on Tuesday. NH-48 sees a traffic of over 1.5 lakh vehicles on a daily basis, according to an NHAI official, but that is not more the case due to its present condition.

Manhar had set out from Vavad village in Valsad district’s Kaprada taluka to lay the foundation stone of a school on Tuesday, but allegedly reached late and he has blamed the potholes on NH-848 for the same. He told The Indian Express that he also called up some NHAI officials, but “did not receive a proper response”, after which he, along with Kaprada taluka Panchayat President Hiraben Mahala, Kaprada village Sarpanch Shantiben Gaekwad, former Sarpanch Chanderbhai Gaekwad and others, sat on a dharna in the middle of the national highway in Kaprada town, for around two hours.

Videos of the protest were posted on social media.

Manhar also explained how due to the potholes on the highway stretch that were “one-foot-deep”, the bearings of both the front wheels of his vehicle “failed on the way to Vavad”. “A female police officer also fell off her moped and her uniform got soiled. We helped reach a hospital. We have received a number of complaints from the local sarpanches and common people against the condition of the roads,” the BJP leader added.

Hiraben, who runs a hotel on the outskirts of the town on NH-848, told this paper that she had received numerous complaints and that people have demanded repair of the roads. “I contacted the NHAI authorities in Valsad several times, but they did not give a satisfactory reply. We are also helpless. We have complained about this to the higher authorities of our party,” Hiraben told The Indian Express.

Similarly, on a 56-km stretch on NH-48 between Valvada and Bhilad, several potholes have slowed down the traffic between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

As per details obtained from the district flood control centre in Valsad, till July 25 last year, the district had received 57.68 inches of rainfall, while this year it was 54.36 inches, and in 2023 it was 71.32 inches.

Valsad BJP MP Dhaval told The Indian Express, “I have spotted potholes at 11 places on the 56-km stretch between Valsad and Bhilad. One has to slow down their vehicle here and that leads to traffic jams. I have come across complaints from the local people who said that several accidents happen and vehicles get damaged on this stretch. A similar situation was also seen on the NH-848 stretch between Valsad and Nashik.”

He said that the NHAI had assured him of repairs at the earliest, adding: “I also made representations to the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, and requested him to get a permanent solution.”

Vadodara city Police Commissioner Narsimha Komar, officials of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation and the NHAI, in an attempt to temporarily resolve the 15-km traffic snarl that has been occurring from Bamangam in Karjan to Jambuva on the outskirts of Vadodara city since over two weeks, said that work on widening of bridges, which have become bottlenecks, are underway.

Komar said, “The Ahmedabad-Mumbai stretch of NH-48 is one of the busiest. Being an economic corridor, there is movement of heavy vehicular traffic, including multi-axle vehicles. Due to potholes caused by heavy rain, the traffic moves slowly and causes a snarl… In some cases, breakdown of multi-axle vehicles also leads to jams. The cascading effect causes serpentine queues. The NHAI has been instructed to fill the potholes and carry out the resurfacing of the highway, using the technology it has, now that the rain has taken a pause. Once the road is resurfaced, traffic can move smoothly…”

The police have also decided to impose penalties on vehicles stopping at the side, causing snarls. “Additionally, we will also coordinate with our counterparts in Anand and Vadodara districts during weekly meetings to review (the situation) and ensure such that no cascading traffic jams are caused due to issues on other stretches of the highway…” Komar said.

Surat NHAI Project Manager Sanjay Yadav, said, “There is not much of an issue in Bharuch, Surat and Navsari. It is only Valsad. There are industrial areas in Vapi, Sarigam, Umargam, and Bhilad in Valsad district. Heavy rainfall led to the formation of potholes from July 5. We deployed four teams to repair the potholes. By July 20, we had repaired almost 95 per cent of the potholes on NH-48 in Valsad. The stretch sees heavy traffic, and every time our teams start their work, there is a traffic jam.”

He further said: “On a daily basis, 1.5 lakh vehicles ply on NH-48 in Valsad. There was no issue before the monsoon season. Many drainage points on the highways are choked. During monsoon, rainwater percolates from the bitumen layer deep inside and reaches the drainage system. We are also trying to clear the drainage systems.”

“Work has started at Bhilad, Sonwada and Pardi, bordering Maharashtra. We are hoping that by the end of August, we will get all the roads repaired, if the rain abates,” Yadav also said.

(With inputs from Aditi Raja in Vadodara)