The warning came during a protest organised by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS)
KALYAN: Comparing the traffic chaos on the Kalyan-Shilphata road to the Strait of Hormuz, MNS leader and former MLA Pramod (Raju) Patil on Sunday warned the administration of an intensified agitation unless immediate steps were taken to ease congestion and repair pothole-ridden stretches within three days.
The congestion has severely affected commuters travelling daily from Kalyan, Dombivli, Ulhasnagar and Ambernath to Navi Mumbai for work, the MNS said. Patil blamed the worsening situation on ongoing Metro construction, road works, inadequate road capacity and the unchecked movement of heavy vehicles. He questioned the approval of infrastructure projects without adequate planning for traffic management, alleging that commuters were bearing the brunt of poor coordination among government agencies. MNS Dombivli city president Harshad Patil demanded that heavy vehicles be allowed to ply only during designated hours to ease traffic pressure. He warned of an aggressive response if the administration failed to regulate their movement. Targeting toll operators over the poor condition of the road, Raju Patil questioned why motorists continued to pay toll despite inadequate maintenance. Congress city president Amit Mhatre and several citizens participated in the protest.