Daijiworld Media Network - Palghar

Palghar, Oct 15: Over 500 students and commuters were stranded for nearly 12 hours on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad National Highway in Maharashtra’s Palghar district after a massive traffic jam on Tuesday evening, officials said.

The gridlock, which stretched nearly 70 kilometres near Vasai, began around 5:30 pm and continued until the early hours of Wednesday. Twelve buses carrying students from Classes 5 to 10 of various schools, along with college students from Thane and Mumbai, were caught in the chaos while returning from school picnics near Virar. Six buses from a well-known Dadar school and six buses from Malwani were left stranded overnight without food or water.

Students from the Dadar school were returning from The Great Escape Water Park in Vajreshwari when the traffic jam turned a usual two- to three-hour journey into a nearly 12-hour ordeal. Exhausted, hungry, and anxious, many children spent the night stuck in slow-moving traffic, while worried parents waited for updates on their safety.

The gridlock was triggered by the diversion of heavy vehicles from the Ghodbunder Highway in Thane due to ongoing repair work, which shifted the traffic burden onto the Mumbai–Ahmedabad route. A lane closure near the Indian Oil petrol pump on the Thane-bound carriageway, scheduled until October 14, further worsened the situation.

Despite the severe traffic snarl, there was no visible presence of traffic police from the Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar (MBVV) area to manage the situation. Attempts to contact authorities reportedly went unanswered.

Some buses managed to take detours, while others inched forward slowly through the night. All students safely reached Dadar by 6 am on Wednesday, sources said.

This incident has sparked outrage over the dangerous traffic conditions and lack of effective management on one of the region’s busiest highways.