Over 100 villagers along NH-48 write to PM seeking “suicide nod” after commute times jump to 5–6 hours; demands, emergency access and NHAI accountability detailed.
Frustration boiled over on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad national highway (NH-48) this week when more than 100 residents of villages including Sasunavghar, Maljipada and Patharpada staged protests and sent a dramatic letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying they would seek permission to die by suicide if officials failed to act. Locals say a combination of badly potholed roads, overflowing heavy-vehicle traffic and poor traffic management has turned a once one-hour commute into a five-to-six-hour ordeal.
Protesters described concrete harms: children missing exams, patients unable to reach the nearest hospital in time, people missing flights and daily economic life paralysed. Villagers blamed alleged negligence by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and local officials, and said repeated representations produced no lasting fix. Their letter demanded disciplinary action against responsible officers and immediate traffic remedies.
The petition also highlighted a recent local directive intended to limit heavy vehicles near Chinchoti Naka during asphalting work on Ghodbunder Road; villagers say the order was ignored, sending extra trucks onto NH-48 and triggering gridlock. In response, the Mira-Bhayander and Vasai-Virar police commissioner transferred management of the Chinchoti traffic branch and reassigned highway traffic duties to local traffic branches to restore order.
Campaigners now demand short-term measures — stricter enforcement of heavy-vehicle diversions, urgent patching and resurfacing, priority lanes for ambulances and school transport — and longer-term solutions including redesigned junctions and better project supervision. The episode underlines how highway maintenance lapses translate into everyday risks for suburban and peri-urban communities and why rapid NHAI action and transparent monitoring are critical to prevent further unrest.
