Despite AI traffic system, encroachment chokes Nagpur's key squares and daily jams persist

An AI-based Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) has been installed in Nagpur district at a cost of crores of rupees. With modern sensors, CCTV cameras at squares and large screens in the traffic control room, Nagpur looks on paper like a modern smart city. On the ground, however, the glitter of the technology fades.

The reason is the rampant encroachment spread across the roads. As a result, major squares in the Orange City see traffic jams every day. There are complaints that goods displayed outside shops, handcarts on footpaths and illegal roadside parking are affecting traffic.

Traffic police have started removing illegal encroachments together with the municipal corporation, and have cleared encroachments on a large scale. But in the absence of a firm policy at the political and administrative level, encroachment has spread like a creeper over most squares and footpaths in the city. The situation is "however many times we remove them, they will sprout again". Traffic police can be seen standing at the squares themselves, working hard to avoid major jams.

Even so, police action alone does not bring lasting relief, because within a few hours of the action the encroachers return to their places.

It has been said that practical and policy-level steps are needed to ease traffic at these major squares and free them from encroachment. The suggested remedy is to deploy a permanent joint squad of Nagpur City Police and the Nagpur Municipal Corporation at these squares and take strict action every day without compromise.

It has also been suggested that fixed vending zones be created for hawkers in areas such as Itwari, Sakkardara, Ganeshpeth, Medical, Mayo and Bardi, and that main roads be declared complete no-hawking zones, as in Bhopal. Basement parking of commercial buildings should be cleared of encroachment immediately and parking strictly restored.

Many squares regarded as the main arteries of Nagpur are no less than a battlefield for motorists because of encroachment and illegal parking. Cotton Market and Itwari (the Lohapul and Gandhibagh area) are the city's oldest and busiest trading centres. With wholesale markets there, heavy vehicles move in and out constantly, but shop goods, signboards and haphazardly parked vehicles on both sides of the road take up half the road. Two-wheeler and four-wheeler drivers have to find their way through, and being stuck in jams for hours has become a daily problem for them.

The Sitabuldi Main Road area is regarded as the city's shopping hub. Pavement vendors and illegal handcarts have occupied a large part of the road from the footpath. Shoppers park their vehicles along the roadside, narrowing the already narrow roads further. With no space for pedestrians, they have to walk in the middle of the road, and the risk of accidents remains constant.

Sakkardara Square in South Nagpur, a very busy junction, is surrounded by encroachment from a vegetable market and commercial shops. Fruit and vegetable carts at the roadside and crowds of shoppers create constant chaos there. School buses and ambulances are also often seen stuck here.

At the Dharampeth West High Court Road square, illegal parking outside commercial premises and haphazardly parked vehicles have upset traffic. As basement parking is used for shops, customers park on the road itself, causing major jams.

Near Medical Square in Nagpur, despite the presence of the city's most important hospitals, unauthorised hawkers and shops have taken over the area around the square. Ambulances carrying critically ill patients face great difficulties because of encroachment and congestion.