At Khed Shivapur, a Bhel joint holds the traffic!

Bumper-to-bumper traffic at Khed Shivapur on the Mumbai-Bangalore national highway is a common sight. And things get worse over the weekends, courtesy a popular bhel joint.

Pune rural police deploy eight traffic police constables and five traffic wardens to handle the choke in the vicinity of Kailash Bhel.

Hundreds of people from Pune and neighbouring rural areas who visit this snack joint every day prefer to park their vehicles on the carriageway of the busy national highway, leaving little space for other vehicles.

Cops are hopeful that the situation will improve and the traffic would breathe easy, once the road is widened into six lanes.

Rajgad police station sub-inspector Hanumant Shinde said that he has to depute men from his thin staff at the location during the peak evening hours, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.

Shinde said, “People refuse to move their vehicles parked on the road. Some even abuse the cops. We cannot fine every such motorist as we do not have enough manpower.”

He said, “Hopefully, traffic jams will be reduced once the road widening work is complete. The width of the highway is only 20 metres and it will be widened up to 60 metres.”

Vijay Jagtap, a 38-year-old motorist from Pune, said, “Things get worse during the late evening hours as people coming from Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani halt here to eat bhel.”

The bhel joint owner Shivraj Mithare (25) said, “We have appointed more than five people to assist the traffic police. There is nothing more we can do. How can we turn away our customers?”