Streets or shop fronts Chaos at Variety Square a recurring cause for accidents

 

 

 

At Variety Square, street shops and vendors have engulfed footpaths and are now even covering parts of the carriageway itself. Carts laden with garments, socks, winter wear and everyday accessories now occupy live traffic space. This has converted the traffic junction into a contested zone where commerce, pedestrians and vehicles compete without hierarchy or protection. This has even led to recurring accidents in the previous months. The road at Variety Square no longer performs a single civic function. It has become, simultaneously, a marketplace, a pedestrian corridor, a parking bay, and a traffic artery.

 

Handcarts are positioned parallel to moving vehicles; display racks extend into lanes meant for circulation; customers pause mid-road to browse; two-wheelers brake abruptly; cars funnel into narrow gaps left between vendors. Variety Square’s importance within Nagpur’s urban geography magnifies the risk. Located at the heart of Sitabuldi, the junction channels daily flows of shoppers, office commuters, public transport and private vehicles. Civic traffic assessments have long categorised this zone as congestion-prone, especially during evening hours when retail footfall peaks. The unchecked occupation of road space by vendors adds a volatile layer to an already strained intersection. Stalls and carts positioned close to turning points obstruct sight lines for drivers approaching the junction. Pedestrians emerge suddenly from behind displays into moving traffic. Two-wheelers swerve to avoid shoppers standing on the road edge.

 

These are precisely the conditions that traffic planners identify as precursors to collisions, frequent near-misses that eventually culminate in accidents. Civic records and traffic advisories in Nagpur have repeatedly flagged encroachments near junctions as a significant contributor to road mishaps. A commuter visiting the city recently mentioned having viewed two accidents in the area already on his visit of two days. He complains that the area is accident prone and accidents compound as the situation couples with extreme rash driving, he observed on his tour to Nagpur. While major accidents often draw attention, it is the accumulation of minor disruptions such as sudden braking, forced lane changes, blocked turning radii, that raises the risk profile of a location. Variety Square, by virtue of its density, absorbs these disruptions continuously. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has conducted periodic anti-encroachment drives in central commercial areas, including Sitabuldi. These operations temporarily clear footpaths and road edges, but the relief is short-lived.

 

Vendors return quickly, driven by footfall concentration and the absence of clearly demarcated vending zones nearby. Vending has drifted into areas where it directly conflicts with traffic movement, especially at a high-speed, high-turnover junction. The danger becomes intense during peak evening hours. As daylight fades, artificial lighting from shops and stalls adds visual clutter. Vehicles queued at signals while vendors expand displays to capture the evening rush. Pedestrians cross unpredictably as they between carts rather than using crossings. The road’s original design logic collapses entirely.