Palghar: As Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway (NH-48) traffic nightmare continues, several education institutions across the city have postponed their school picnics to Vasai untill after Diwali. Anil Garg who is the chairman of the Educational Tour Operators Association told Mid Day that over 20 schools across the city have postponed their upcoming school picnics due to the recent traffic chaos on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway.
After the Dadar school incident, Garg said that two buses carrying 64 students from a Kandivali based school were coming from Nashik and the bus was delayed by two hours due to the traffic on the NH48 highway.
NH-48, a key link between Maharashtra and Gujarat, serves as a vital economic corridor, yet it remains plagued by poor planning and incomplete infrastructure upgrades.
What happened on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway?
Earlier on Wednesday, a massive traffic jam left more than 500 students and commuters stranded for nearly 12 hours. The students from Dadar school were returning a picnic from Great Escape Water Park in Vajreshwari. Despite a normal travel time of two to three hours for the 70 km journey, the students did not reach home until 6 a.m. next day, sparking outrage over the dangerous traffic situation on the NH48 highway.
The gridlock, which stretched for nearly 70 kilometres near Vasai, began around 5.30 pm on Tuesday and continued until the early hours of Wednesday. Twelve buses carrying students from Classes 5 to 10 of various schools — along with some college students from Thane and Mumbai — were caught in the chaos while returning from a school picnic near Virar. It left six buses of students from a well-known school in Dadar and six buses of students from Malwani stranded without food or water overnight.
Students left without food and water
During the jam, the children were left without food or water, as vehicles barely crawled along the highway. By nightfall, many students were exhausted, anxious, and hungry, while their parents waited in distress for updates on their safety.
To get details on exclusive and budget-friendly property deals in Mumbai & surrounding regions, do visit: https://budgetproperties.in/
