Nagpur traffic chaos is continuing near Daga Hospital, where a nearly 150-metre road stretch between Lal Imli Square and Ganja Khet Square has remained closed for more than three years despite the completion of the Indora-Dighori flyover. The closure forces vehicles travelling in both directions to share a single carriageway and has created a persistent bottleneck near the flyover’s down ramp.
A visit to the location by the Times of India on Friday found the stretch still barricaded. Vehicles descending from the flyover merge with traffic moving towards and coming from Favara Square, while autorickshaws parked along the roadside further reduce the available road space. Motorists are consequently required to negotiate a narrowed carriageway in a high-traffic area adjoining Daga Hospital.
The Indora-Dighori elevated corridor, built at a cost of nearly Rs1,000 crore, was intended to ease congestion along the route. However, the unresolved closure has continued to restrict traffic movement at one of the junctions the project was expected to improve.
Local resident Mustafa Kamal said the situation had not changed despite the flyover’s completion. “While the nearly Rs1,000-crore Indora-Dighori elevated corridor was constructed to ease traffic congestion, the unresolved road closure continues to defeat its very purpose at this location,” he told TOI.
Cotton Market traffic zone police inspector Ajay Mankar acknowledged that the location had become a major traffic bottleneck. He said a shop on the closed stretch was at the centre of litigation pending before the high court. According to Mankar, traffic police had earlier held a meeting with the National Highways Authority of India and Nagpur Municipal Corporation officials and suggested constructing a road beside the shop, where sufficient space was available.
Mankar said NHAI had not taken action on the proposal. NHAI officials, however, disputed that position and said the agency had already constructed a road beside the shop. The officials claimed that home guards deployed at the location were preventing motorists from using it by keeping it barricaded.
The traffic police offered a different explanation for the barricades. Mankar said they had been installed to prevent motorists from entering the wrong side of the flyover ramp. He also said NHAI had not cleared the stretch properly and that construction waste remained on the road, making it unsuitable for regular traffic. “However, we would take proper measures soon,” Mankar said.
The conflicting explanations leave the immediate status of the alternative road unclear. While NHAI says a usable road has been constructed beside the disputed shop, traffic police maintain that barricades and construction waste are preventing its safe use. The authorities’ next steps will determine whether the closed stretch can be reopened or whether another access arrangement will be implemented.
