Festive rush, rain choke Pune roads
Many citizens, travelling for the festival or on last-minute shopping trips, preferred personal vehicles—especially four-wheelers—over public transport, overwhelming an already strained road network
Traffic across the city and its adjoining suburbs came to a near standstill on Saturday, as a combination of festivities, relentless rains, and pothole-ridden roads triggered massive gridlocks. The sudden surge in vehicular movement overwhelmed key routes, leaving commuters stuck in jams that lasted for hours.
Many citizens, travelling for the festival or on last-minute shopping trips, preferred personal vehicles—especially four-wheelers—over public transport, overwhelming an already strained road network. Smaller lanes quickly clogged before the congestion spilled onto main thoroughfares.
Frustrated citizens took to the social media platform X, sharing images and videos from stranded vehicles. Complaints ranged from malfunctioning traffic signals and missing traffic wardens to a lack of advance planning by the authorities.
“Every major road is blocked. Where are the traffic cops? Why are there no preparations during festivals?” wrote one user.
Another posted a clip of a choked intersection with no police presence, calling it “complete chaos.”
Several commuters abandoned their plans altogether. Atish Bhujbal, a software engineer from Viman Nagar, said he spent more than two hours just trying to cross Kharadi junction. “I left home at 11 am to buy gifts for Raksha Bandhan and it was sheer madness—no police, no diversions, just chaos,” he said.
Mangesh Khole from Sinhagad Road described a 90-minute struggle to get from Nanded City to Swargate, eventually cancelling his visit to his sister.
Marketing executive Preeti Nadkarni from Baner said a 30-minute drive to Aundh turned into a four-hour ordeal due to potholes and waterlogging.
From early morning, congestion began building on key roads, particularly in central areas. Shivajinagar, Jangli Maharaj Road, Gopal Krishna Gokhale Road (Fergusson College Road), Laxmi Road and Kumthekar Road saw bumper-to-bumper traffic, which later spilled onto internal lanes and arterial routes.
By afternoon, heavy showers further slowed vehicle movement and flooded several low-lying stretches. Outer roads and highways, including the Mumbai–Pune Highway, Pune–Satara Road, Hadapsar–Solapur Road and Nagar–Pune Road, also witnessed crippling jams that continued well into the night.
Himmat Jadhav, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), admitted the situation was challenging. “Incoming and outgoing traffic volume was significantly high due to the Raksha Bandhan festive rush. Waterlogging, poor road conditions, potholes, illegal encroachments and abandoned vehicles were all contributing factors. However, we have deployed additional traffic police and all our officials are on the ground managing the situation,” he said.
Ongoing infrastructure work, including metro rail and flyover construction, has narrowed several key routes, while digging and patchwork repairs have left many stretches battered. In some areas, potholes and uneven surfaces slowed traffic to a crawl, causing frequent breakdowns that worsened the jams.
Illegal roadside parking and encroachments by hawkers further reduced available road space. In busy commercial zones such as Laxmi Road and FC Road, parked vehicles narrowed lanes to the point where traffic virtually stopped.
