Nagpur: Abrupt closure of one side of the MLA Hostel Road from Raja Rani Chowk to Ahinsa Chowk, coupled with heavy vehicular movement due to events at nearby venues, triggered severe traffic congestion on Sunday evening. Motorists were caught in long snarls, just ahead of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis‘s visit to Desphande Hall to felicitate newly-elected Rajya Sabha member Maya Ivnate, before traffic police intervened to ease the situation. The Public Works Department (PWD) is carrying out concretisation work on the Raja Rani Chowk to Ahinsa Chowk stretch. While one side of the road from Ahinsa Chowk to Raja Rani Chowk is completed, the opposite side was abruptly shut for the works, forcing motorists to take U-turns at already congested mid-junctions. The situation was aggravated by haphazard parking along both sides of the narrowed stretch. Traffic movement towards Satpura Lawns was also severely affected due to indiscriminate parking. Sitabuldi Traffic zone PI Aniruddha Puri confirmed that road closure on one-side and parked vehicles on the roadside led to the chaos. “Without wasting time, we made Ahinsa Chowk to Raja Rani Chowk stretch one-way available for VIP movement and removed many vehicles wrongly parked on the roadside. There was heavy traffic due to events at Vasantrao Deshmukh Hall and SCZCC. However, the problem was resolved before the arrival of VIPs,” said Puri.Residents and commuters have already raised concerns over the slow pace of road concretisation work in Civil Lines and the elevated height of the newly-constructed road. First-time corporator Abhijeet Jha alleged negligence and poor execution by PWD officials. “I have complained multiple times regarding the ongoing work. The elevated roads have increased the risk of flooding during monsoon. Also, the paver blocks being laid are of poor quality,” he said, adding that the stretch has been constructed unevenly. A PWD official, however, claimed that all necessary measures are being followed for concretisation work from Tiger Capital Square to Ahinsa Chowk, and “even experts from VNIT have given consent”. “The road work, undertaken at an estimated project cost of ₹18 crore, is almost completed. The stretch near MLA Hostel is closed for curing. It will open in the next seven to eight days, while work will be done on the other side simultaneously. Two to three lanes near the Board office that lack proper drainage system may experience flooding. We will ensure that water from the road does not enter other areas,” the official said.
