BHUBANESWAR: The horrific traffic congestion on NH-16 that crippled vehicular movement, leaving thousands of commuters stranded on the road for hours on a sweltering Wednesday has drawn widespread criticism for the pathetic management by Commissionerate Police.
The incident along one of the busiest national highways exposed the sheer lack of preparedness by the police and NH administration. The painful congestion, caused by a truck that went up in flames on Palasuni overbridge, was so badly managed that it spiraled into a nightmare and spilled over to Thursday morning, drawing outrage from people.
Apart from thousands of commuters, ambulance and Ama Buses were caught in the jam, struggling to find their way out. “It is the worst traffic jam in the history of Bhubaneswar,” a commuter posted on his Instagram handle while scores of people poured out their ire over how badly the massive gridlock on 14-km stretch of the NH was handled.
The police was found wanting on multiple counts. It did not anticipate the problem and was late to effect diversion of vehicular traffic either from Khurda and Cuttack side, leading to building up of the commuters on the route. Though alternate exit routes for diversion were available from Khurda, Puri and Cuttack sides, no information on the situation was shared on the official X handles of Commissionerate Police and Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Traffic DCP too. Unaware of the logjam, commuters travelled on the affected route, only to be stranded for hours.
“The NH-16 (Nakhara-Bhubaneswar) gridlocked since evening. I missed my train and had to spend extra money on cab and bus. The Traffic police seemed helpless,” said a citizen on X. Slamming the Twin City police as ‘incompetent’, commuters said many travellers missed their flights too.
Appalling as it may sound, the Commissionerate Police struggled with logistics as the traffic logjam compounded. With no cranes at its disposal, it had to hire three hydra cranes but failed to remove the charred truck from the over-bridge. Subsequently, a JCB was mobilised to dismantle the truck and remove it from the NH. The city police have six towing vehicles, including two of their own.
The congestion was worsened by inter-state buses which were allowed to travel on the NH before diversion was imposed. Most private buses opt to travel on the NH which cuts through the city and they even stop on flyovers to pick up passengers.
The crisis was in the offing, though. For long, traffic chaos along the Acharya Vihar-Vani Vihar-Rasulgarh-Palasuni stretch has emerged as an ordeal for commuters but police have turned a blind eye. “Police are happy making arrangements for VVIP movements. For common commuters, neither the police nor the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) seems to care,” this sentiment of a commuter captured the mood.
With enforcement virtually vanishing, barring a few routine checkpoints, traffic violations have ballooned, adding to the problem.