A night of chaos on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad highway has forced schools across Mumbai to hit pause on their picnic plans. After hundreds of students were stranded in buses for nearly 12 hours on Tuesday night, over 20 upcoming school picnics to Vasai have now been postponed, said Anil Garg, chairman of the Educational Tour Operators Association.
“Nearly 20 to 22 schools have postponed their trips until after the Diwali vacations. Traffic congestion continues across the city — even today, two buses from Nashik carrying 64 students from a Kandivli-based school were delayed by two hours,” added Anil Garg.
School buses with students stranded for hours on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad Highway during Tuesday night’s traffic jam. PIC/SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The decision came after a traffic nightmare that left 6–10 buses carrying students from various city schools stuck on the highway through the night. The buses, returning from Vasai after annual picnics and industrial visits, were caught in a massive jam that began around 6 pm and lasted until dawn.
“What was supposed to be a fun day turned into a sleepless, anxious ordeal,” said Prof Suresh Sudhapeli, coordinator for students of Mother Teresa Junior College, which had over 300 students travelling that evening. “Our buses were stuck for almost 10 hours. Many students nearly fainted or felt unwell due to dehydration and exhaustion. Teachers had to walk long distances to fetch water and food.”
“The college was scheduled for an industrial visit followed by a recreational park. However, it took nearly six hours just to reach the site, and by then it was lunchtime. We had to cut the visit short and leave early in the evening.
We had arranged food, snacks, and enough water bottles for the students, and we kept parents updated throughout the night. Thankfully, all the students were older, so there were no serious medical issues. But the public should have been informed in advance about such road blockages,” said Dr Riyaz Khan, principal and chairman of Mother Teresa High School.
Heavy traffic on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad highway near Fountain Hotel, Ghodbunder, on Wednesday
By the time the buses reached Malwani early the next morning, students were drained, phones were dead, and parents were in panic. “We kept trying to reach our children but couldn’t. It was a sleepless night. My daughter came home with a fever,” said Vasim Akbar Shaikh, a Malwani resident.
Students recalled the stretch being pitch dark, surrounded by forest, with no streetlights or facilities nearby. “Teachers brought vegetable pulao and water on foot to help us at around 2 am,” said Syed Ruman Akhtar, a Std XII student.
Apart from students of Mother Teresa junior college, mid-day learned that younger students from a Goregaon-based and Dadar-based school were also a part of the traffic holdup.
Police said heavy congestion on the highway, worsened by halted trucks and ongoing roadwork, caused the massive delay. “After hours of waiting, some truck drivers simply parked and slept, blocking the road further,” said Mangesh Chaudhary, who reached the spot early Wednesday to help ease traffic.
Vehicles crawl through a traffic snarl near Fountain Hotel on the Ghodbunder stretch. PICS/NIMESH DAVE
“As soon as we were informed, we coordinated with the Chinchoti traffic branch and arranged special piloting for four school buses. Around 100 police personnel were deployed overnight to manage the situation,” said DCP (Traffic) Ashok Virkar.
A highway in crisis
The massive congestion was caused by the diversion of heavy vehicles from the Ghodbunder Highway due to ongoing repair work, pushing the load onto NH-48. A lane closure near the Indian Oil petrol pump on the Thane-bound carriageway further worsened the gridlock. School and college students from Mumbai, were trapped near Vasai for over 12 hours — from 5.30 pm to 6 am.
Some of the stranded buses belonged to Shardashram School in Dadar. When the situation escalated, the school reached out to MNS chief Raj Thackeray for help. Acting on his instructions, party leader Avinash Jadhav and local workers coordinated with police and residents to rescue the children, providing food, water, and temporary shelter at a nearby resort. The buses finally moved at dawn.
This isn’t an isolated case. In July, a 49-year-old woman died when her ambulance was stuck in NH-48 traffic. Two months later, a 16-month-old boy lost his life en route to a Mumbai hospital during a similar jam.
– Inputs by Megha Parmar
