Massive four-day traffic snarl on Delhi-Kolkata highway in Bihar, no relief in sight

Bihar: Hundreds of vehicles have been stranded for the past four days on a severely congested stretch of the Delhi-Kolkata National Highway (NH-19) in Bihar, with no sign of relief as the situation continues to deteriorate.

The scale of the disruption is so severe that vehicles are reportedly covering just five kilometres in 24 hours.

National Highway 19, which runs from Agra in Uttar Pradesh to Dankuni in West Bengal, passes through four key states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal. It serves important cities such as Varanasi and crosses the River Ganges on several occasions.

This highway constitutes a significant section of the historic Grand Trunk Road, one of Asia’s oldest and longest trade routes.

What led to the traffic jam?

According to a report by NDTV, torrential rainfall last Friday in Rohtas district has led to severe flooding of diversions and service lanes constructed by a company working on the six-laning of the highway. These makeshift routes were overwhelmed by water, rendering large portions of the road impassable.

Potholes have emerged across the flooded stretches, causing vehicles to skid and worsening the traffic bottleneck. What would ordinarily be a short drive now takes hours, with the traffic jam extending all the way to Aurangabad, nearly 65 kilometres from the original site of the disruption in Rohtas.

Despite the mounting chaos, there has been no visible intervention from the local administration. Neither the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) nor the construction firm responsible for the highway expansion has taken concrete action to alleviate the crisis.

The prolonged traffic jam has had a ripple effect on local businesses and essential services. Drivers transporting perishable goods fear their cargo will spoil before reaching its destination. Emergency vehicles, ambulances, and tourist traffic are also struggling to navigate through the congested route.

As the gridlock enters its fifth day, residents and commuters are demanding urgent action to restore order and prevent further disruption.