The Lexicon International School (above right) is on Nagar Road, close to Wageshwar Temple (above left) that sees an especially large number of devotees on Mondays during Shravan, sparking traffic chaos (Top left); PIC: MAHENDRA KOLHE WhatsApp Natraj Girish Bapat The temple always attracts more devotees on Mondays and thus, traffic gets heavier. Hence, we took the decision to close the school this Monday so students do not face problems — Gursimran Kaur, school principal Wagholi’s traffic woes rose to a new high on Monday, as The Lexicon International School was forced to declare a holiday for students due to roads in the area being completely choked. The school is located on Nagar Road, in close proximity to Wageshwar Temple in Wagholi, that has many visitors during the month of Shravan, with Mondays considered especially auspicious.On August 20, students were stranded in traffic for more than an hour, prompting the school to take the decision to close on Monday. A message was circulated to all the students on Sunday evening, stating, ‘Due to severe traffic problems on account of Shravan Somwar programmes at Wageshwar Temple, the school will remain closed on Monday, August 27.’The school has approximately 3,500 students and 35 buses that commute daily.Elaborating on the decision, school principal Gursimran Kaur said, “Last Monday (August 20), we had major traffic problems and students were stranded in the school bus for more than an hour.The temple always attracts more devotees on Mondays and thus, traffic gets heavier. Hence, we took the decision to close the school this Monday so that students do not face problems.”A manager at the Lexicon School, who did not wish to be named, confirmed that the traffic problem affects students’ commute in a major way. “It takes over an hour for them to reach Wagholi from Kharadi. The condition of the roads is bad and the traffic problem is massive. Keeping all this in mind, we decided to give them a holiday on Monday,” he said.While Shravan may have compounded the traffic problem, the area was already facing issues. The roads are in a terrible state with no footpaths and residents complain that only one vehicle can pass at a time. They have also demanded a flyover to resolve traffic snarls.Ashish Mane, a resident of the area, said, “I received a message on a residents’group saying that the school had declared a holiday due to traffic problems. It’s a problem we face every day. It is sad to see schoolchildren stranded for hours on their way back home. We have complained many times regarding the condition of the roads and traffic, but none of the authorities have taken it seriously.”Another resident,Satav, added, “We have demanded a flyover on that stretch, but no decision has been taken yet. It takes us more than 1.5 hours to reach Wagholi from Kharadi, a distance of 8 km that can be covered in barely 15 to 20 minutes.”Cops from Lonikhand police station were seen trying to curb the chaos on Monday, but they, too, expressed their frustration.Pratap Mankar, police inspector, Lonikhand police station, said, “The condition of the roads is miserable and there have been continuous demands to get them fixed. While the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) has assured that work will start from September 1, it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage traffic.”He added, “The load doubles on Monday, so the existing traffic problems only get worse. We had at least 80 per cent of our staff managing traffic on Monday and also roped in citizens who help us as police mitras. At least 60 such citizens were on the road helping to smoothen things over.”Interestingly, this Monday, traffic was better-managed than usual as Pune guardian ministerwas to pass through the area to attend a programme. For regular citizens, however, the daily nightmare continues.

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