What was feared before the onset of monsoon has now become a reality for thousands of commuters in East Nagpur. Just a day after the city received 62.3 mm rainfall, roads beneath the under-construction flyovers at Wardhaman Nagar, Gangabai Ghat Square, Jagnade Square, Nandanvan, Zenda Chowk and KDK College turned into stretches of water-filled craters on Tuesday, bringing traffic to a crawl and making every commute a risky affair. The projects expected to end congestion have, for now, become the reason behind one of the city’s worst monsoon commuting nightmares. Water-logging along temporary diversions concealed deep potholes, forcing motorists to inch forward without knowing whether they were driving into a shallow puddle or a wheel-breaking crater.

 

Long queues of cars, buses, auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers beneath the flyover structures as commuters struggled to negotiate the damaged roads. “A journey from Nandanvan to CA Road earlier took barely 15 minutes. Now, after every spell of rain, it takes more than half an hour. We are worried less about traffic and more about damaging our vehicles or meeting with an accident,” said Amit Meshram, a resident of Nandanvan. The worst-hit stretches are part of Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (MahaRail) flyover projects, where barricades have narrowed the carriageway and diverted traffic onto temporary roads. Continuous movement of heavy machinery, coupled with rainfall, has left several diversions badly damaged.

 

The road from KDK College towards Kukreja tower is plagued with huge pools of muddy water that cover almost the entire road width. Beneath the flyover, motorists are forced to weave around potholes while pedestrians walked along broken shoulders to avoid speeding vehicles. Commuting through Jagnade Square is a nightmarish experience for commuters. For two-wheeler riders particularly, the journey has become perilous. “You cannot judge the depth of the potholes because they are completely submerged. Every morning feels like taking a chance,” said Priya Wankhede, who travels daily through the square for work. Residents say they understand that large infrastructure projects inevitably cause inconvenience, but question why temporary roads have been allowed to deteriorate so badly. “The flyovers will certainly benefit the city in the future. But why citizens have to suffer like this every monsoon until then?” asked Ramesh Uikey, a shopkeeper near Gangabai Ghat Square. With the monsoon only beginning, residents fear that unless executing agencies and civic authorities take up immediate pothole repair works, improve drainage and maintain safer diversions, the hardship will only deepen in the weeks ahead.