Mumbai: VVIP Movements Cause Major Traffic Delays In Bandra And Beyond

Mumbai: Commuters experienced significant delays on Monday as traffic came to a standstill in several areas, particularly in the suburbs. The disruption was attributed to VVIP movements in Bandra’s Kherwadi area, where officials gathered at the Government Colony Ground for a foundation stone-laying ceremony.

According to the Mumbai Traffic Control Room, adjoining routes saw heavy congestion, including the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road, Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Marg—especially in Kurla, the Vikhroli-Jogeshwari Link Road, Bandra Reclamation Flyover, SV Road in Bandra and Mahim Koliwada, and the Vakola Flyover. Traffic crawled at a snail's pace throughout the second half of Monday.

Motorists expressed frustration with the traffic police's management, blaming it for the roadblocks. “While traffic in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and Bandra is usually bad, today (Monday) it was extreme. The BKC Road towards LBS Marg (Kurla) was horrible; the traffic was barely moving even before peak hours (5 p.m.),” said Naresh Valmiki, an IT professional from Chembur. “There was a long stretch of vehicles piled up, and I didn’t see a single traffic cop managing the situation. I waited in my car for over 35 to 40 minutes and reached home after 6:30 p.m., when I should have arrived by 5 to 5:15 p.m.”

Traffic on BKC Road extended all the way to the Sion-Bandra Link Road. Meanwhile, Kherwadi Road, where the event took place, remained jammed throughout Monday evening, with congestion spilling over to the adjacent Anant Kanekar Marg. In a domino effect, Anant Kanekar Marg, which connects the Western Express Highway (WEH) and the Kalanagar Flyover, also became clogged. According to local traffic police, the backup on WEH from Bandra stretched as far as the Coastal Road, continuing to Vakola Flyover and Airport Flyover.

Meanwhile, Swami Vivekanand (SV) Road, a key connector in the western suburbs, experienced heavy traffic at Bandra West and Mahim Causeway in Mahim Koliwada. "Koliwada's SV Road was jammed for over 30 minutes. Again, I did not see any traffic police manning the roads and despite tweeting multiple times, there was much of an impact. Today it was unusually jammed," said Deepti Nair, a commuter.

On the other end of BKC Road in Kurla, areas such as Kapadia Nagar, Vinod Bhave Nagar, and Nav Pada also experienced traffic congestion.

However, traffic police from the BKC division stated that the situation returned to normal by 6:30 p.m. after the guests left Kherwadi. "The traffic was slightly higher than usual for only 15 to 20 minutes before 6:30 p.m. as the guests were leaving, and traffic was briefly halted for VVIP movements," said Manoj Shinde, Senior Police Inspector of BKC Traffic. "By the evening, vehicles were moving as usual, and there were no major disruptions afterward."

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In the western police region, Powai and Saki Naka areas saw some traffic disruption on the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, with Powai’s Kailash Complex Link Road being particularly affected. Local police attributed this to “backlog” traffic, mostly from LBS Marg, but noted that the situation was brought under control before 7 p.m.