Unusually high traffic jams were observed on the Western Express Highway (WEH) on Tuesday morning, which could be due to the rigorous checking at various nakabandi points in the city. Traffic police said that with the extension of lockdown-like curbs in the city, unusual traffic was seen on Monday, which led to an extensive nakabandi drive on the WEH.
On Monday, the vehicular traffic movement on the WEH had risen by at least 25 percent, said Somnath Gharge, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic Western), owing to the VVIP movement of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who inaugurated the trial run of the Metro train at Akurli station. In the light of the unusual traffic, an extensive nakabandi drive was initiated on Tuesday morning.
DCP Gharge added that various checkpoints along the WEH, on both north and southbound, like Dahisar Toll Naka, Jogeshwari stretch near Ismail Yusuf College, checkpoint near Vakola and the northbound arm of the WEH near Vile Parle were some of the locations which saw heavy congestion on Tuesday due to the checking.
"All motor vehicles are being checked to see if the motorist has a valid reason to step out. While Tuesday witnessed unusual traffic, it was comparatively less than that recorded on Monday. This could be possibly due to the nakabandi drive, which either compelled the motorists to stay back home or take another route where nakabandi was not taking place," added DCP Gharge.
Many vehicles were stuck in traffic for over two hours amid strict police checking, along with ambulances, with no respite in bumper to bumper traffic. A Twitter user, Ansh, said, "4 kms traffic north bound WEH for Dahisar Toll, Nakabandis before every flyover on WEH and where is that 100 m toll rule ? @AUThackeray @mybmc @UdhavThackeray @OfficeofUT"
A Twitter user, Deep, posted on the social media platform, "What's happening between Dahisar and Mira Road on Western Express Highway?? @MumbaiPolice stuck in traffic for 45 mins! What if there are ambulance stuck in a traffic?" Meanwhile, another user, Mitesh Shah took to Twitter and said, "@mybmc we are been allowed to open our shop from 7am - 2pm. But from past 2hours i am been stuck in traffic near Dahisar toll. How we are suppose to go and work. At Least allow us to travel by train to avoid traffic . So at least we can get sufficient time to work."
