The Bombay High Court’s strong observations on traffic and parking chaos in Dhantoli, Ramdaspeth and Congress Nagar are more than judicial remarks — they are a wake-up call. When ambulances are forced to stop mid-road due to congestion outside hospitals, the issue becomes one of life and death. The Court has rightly demanded solutions. Nagpur now needs decisive, time-bound action — not another cycle of reports. Dhantoli’s crisis is structural and administrative. Years of unchecked commercialisation of residential plots, illegal hospital expansions, and conversion of mandatory parking spaces into commercial areas have choked roads never designed for such heavy traffic. Add rampant on-street parking, illegal projections and weak enforcement, and gridlock becomes inevitable. 

 

 

Strict enforcement must begin immediately. All hospitals and establishments misusing parking spaces should face penalties at four times the commercial rate, as suggested by the Court. Repeat offenders must face trade licence suspension. Encroachments, illegal ramps and obstructions narrowing roads must be removed in a coordinated drive by NMC and Traffic Police. Key hospital approach roads should be declared 24×7 Ambulance Priority Corridors with clearly marked no-parking zones and CCTV monitoring. Blocking an ambulance must attract heavy fines and immediate towing. 

 

 

Dhantoli requires a professionally designed one-way circulation system. Traffic experts should redesign movement patterns scientifically instead of ad-hoc experiments. Parallel narrow roads can be synchronised into a one-way grid to improve flow and reduce conflict points. A strict “No On-Road Parking” policy must be enforced in core medical zones. Multi-level parking facilities through public-private partnerships should be developed on available municipal land. Hospitals lacking mandatory parking must either create structured parking within premises or face expansion restrictions. Dedicated two-minute drop-off bays outside major hospitals can reduce random halts. Intelligent traffic signals at key junctions must be synchronised to prevent spillback congestion.

 

 

The greatest failure so far has been lack of accountability. A joint task force of NMC, Traffic Police, PWD and citizen representatives must review progress weekly, with minutes made public. Area-wise officer responsibility should be fixed. If congestion persists due to enforcement failure, departmental action must follow. An online grievance dashboard allowing citizens to upload geo-tagged evidence of illegal parking and encroachments can enhance transparency and speed up response. Dhantoli and Ramdaspeth should be declared Special Medical Traffic Regulation Zones. Further commercial conversion without adequate parking provision must be prohibited. Public transport connectivity to medical hubs should be strengthened through shuttle services to reduce reliance on private vehicles. Hospitals can stagger OPD timings to ease peak-hour pressure. The High Court has made it clear: it wants a solution. The solution lies in sustained enforcement, scientific planning and political will. For too long, selective enforcement has allowed violations to flourish, while patients and residents pay the price. The Court’s intervention should not remain confined to one locality. Similar strict, time-bound measures must be implemented across Nagpur to eliminate encroachments, dismantle the parking mafia and decongest major roads. With uniform enforcement and zero tolerance for illegal occupation of public spaces, Nagpur can truly emerge as a model, congestion-free and highly livable city.