3 minutes of readingPuneFebruary 5, 2026 11:25 pm IST
As motorists endured a nightmare on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway since Tuesday afternoon, Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar on Wednesday afternoon directed NCP workers to provide best possible help to the stranded people.
Accordingly, 18 to 20 Pimpri-Chinchwad NCP workers rushed to help stranded travelers with 2,000 food packets and water bottles on two-wheelers as traveling on four-wheelers was out of the question.
NCP workers faced difficulties in reaching out to commuters. First there was a traffic jam on the highway because traffic had stopped, then the police did not allow them to continue. Although they managed to move forward, the chaos caused by the vehicles on the road Pune–Bombay the highway added to his headache.
“We faced all kinds of difficulties in providing help to the stranded travellers. After receiving directives from the Deputy Chief Minister’s office on Wednesday, we first had to arrange the food packets. We went all over Pimpri-Chinchwad to get the food packets, packed them carefully and then proceeded. We had one four-wheeler and several two-wheelers,” said Seema Sawale, a former corporator. Sawale is the former chairman of the PCMC standing committee.
“The highway was blocked. So from Borghat police area, we reached the Pune-Mumbai highway… From Jambhulgaon, Khadkale, Kane, we approached Lonavala. We had to leave our four-wheeler at Kanhe area and then after traveling inside Talegaon, we reached Wadgaon.”
Another NCP leader, Sarang Kamtekar, said they had to walk four to five kilometers, carrying food packets and bottles of drinking water in their hands. “We walked four to five kilometers, we were riding two-wheelers on the wrong side. It was really crazy in the traffic.”
Once they reached the vicinity of Lonavala, the NCP workers saw stranded and fatigued travellers. “Several of them were women. Some were in private vehicles, many in buses. They looked tired and had no water or food. Women especially had trouble going to the bathroom. And during the night, it was impossible for them to get out of their vehicles. Men were seen sitting outside, looking tired, restless and tired,” Sawale said.
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It took them almost five hours to complete their mission and return home. “On returning home, we were again stuck as there was another traffic jam caused by a tanker being hit by a trailer. The accident occurred barely 10 minutes before we reached there. The tanker was full of petrol. A serious accident was averted, otherwise it would have aggravated the situation further,” Kamtekar said.