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By:

Minal Sancheti

2 May 2026 at 12:26:53 pm

Lost in Transport

Mumbai’s grand transport infrastructure is undermined by potholes, Poor discipline and a last-mile gaps that keeps it crawling Mumbai: It is morning time, and Pawan Khandelwal is all set to leave for work. A creative lead at an ad agency in Malad, Mumbai, Khandelwal should take 12 to 15 minutes to reach the office, but that rarely happens because of the traffic, poor road quality and lack of civic sense among co-drivers on the road. He mostly ends up reaching the office in 30 to 40 minutes....

Lost in Transport

Mumbai’s grand transport infrastructure is undermined by potholes, Poor discipline and a last-mile gaps that keeps it crawling Mumbai: It is morning time, and Pawan Khandelwal is all set to leave for work. A creative lead at an ad agency in Malad, Mumbai, Khandelwal should take 12 to 15 minutes to reach the office, but that rarely happens because of the traffic, poor road quality and lack of civic sense among co-drivers on the road. He mostly ends up reaching the office in 30 to 40 minutes. Khandelwal firmly believes that road construction is not a major issue for traffic. “The road under construction is not a big issue because they usually don’t take very long to repair the roads. But even after their work is done, it is not done perfectly. At times when they are digging up the road for other purposes, they often leave a bump or a pothole,” he said. He gives an example, “One can see it on the western express highway. There are so many bumps. We call it a highway, but we can’t even drive at 15 km/h because it is not fixed properly.” He also blames people for not following traffic rules, which adds to the problem. Traffic Woes Although there are coastal roads and metros available, the traffic still seems to be a problem for many residents. A media professional and a daily commuter, Charlene Flanagan has been travelling in Mumbai for many years now. There is not much difference in her experience of the traffic congestion. From her experience, she believes the coastal roads and metros have not completely accomplished the mission of curbing traffic congestion. She says, “As a resident of Mumbai and as a person with a valid driver’s licence, I would say the traf f ic hasn’t really changed. It is still as congested, and whether the coastal roads have helped depends on the time of the day you leave and whether you are going against the traffic or along with the traffic.” The pedestrians also face problems. Saloni Mehta, a theatre artiste, says, “I prefer walking to my destinations. For example, I live in Versova, and if I want to see a play in the Prithvi Theatre, I will take a half-hour walk. However, this one time, I could not reach the venue, not just because of the traffic but also because there were no pavements left to walk on. The roads are dug up, and every road is just half a road.” Mumbai’s average speed covered is 5.2 km per 15 minutes. During the peak traffic hours in the morning, when most people travel to their workplace, the average speed is 18.5 km/h. It is important to understand the issue and address it with a solution. Sudhir Badami, an author of the book ‘Matter of Equitability - Making Commuting in Mumbai Enviable’, explains why people still prefer to use cars over metros, “The metro line 3 has definitely taken away some car users. But it has not taken away sufficient numbers of car users to make a difference in the state of road congestion. The reason behind this is essentially the last-mile connectivity in areas where the Aqua Line or Line 7 operates, especially in suburban areas. In the city area, it is supported by good BEST services on the one hand, and taxis being available near the metro stations on the other hand. But most car users still opt for using their cars, as public transport currently does provide assured exclusivity, comfort and good frequency, not forgetting last mile connectivity. The Coastal Road sees very few cars compared to the number of cars on Mumbai’s Roads. Badami, as a transportation analyst, says, “Mumbai has approximately 16 Lakhs motor cars, out of which only about 55,000 seem to be using coastal roads. It is such a minuscule proportion for whom so much has been spent. This is largely because in the city, people don’t go from one end of the city to the other end. They normally start from in between and go somewhere in between. If there is not much time saving for the shorter stretches, then people are not likely to take it, and there will be continued congestion on city roads.” “In general, the necessity of the last-mile connectivity is an important part, but the greater part will be how to get car users onto the public transport,” says Badami. Public transport must provide near exclusivity, comfort and safety to a car-using commuter for migration to take place. This is where the importance of last-mile connectivity is felt. Air Pollution The slow-moving traffic also adds to the air pollution in the city several times more than when they are moving at optimum speeds, he says. Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Mumbai, Anil Kumbhare, denies that there is much traffic congestion in Mumbai as compared to five years back. He credits the coastal roads for curbing the traffic. He says, “Earlier, there used to be bumper-to bumper traffic near Haji Ali. That has come down drastically. As coastal roads shape, the traffic will go down.” He also adds that there is traffic congestion in the morning hours as people are travelling for work. But there is no traffic jam. Although coastal roads have helped, there are still pockets of the city that face traffic congestion every day. This can be solved with careful planning and execution.

Tribal Calculus

The Maharashtra government’s decision to carve out a dedicated State Tribal Commission (STC), separate from the existing combined Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes body, may seem long overdue. After all, the Centre has maintained distinct commissions for these two historically disadvantaged communities for years. The question is not whether this move was justified - it almost certainly is. The more pressing question is: why now?


The official explanation is bureaucratic symmetry. Since New Delhi has had separate commissions for SCs and STs, Mumbai ought to mirror the model. Yet this belated alignment comes not in a vacuum but against the backdrop of renewed and intense anti-Maoist operations across the volatile tri-junction of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Telangana - a region where tribal discontent has often proven fertile ground for insurgency.


Over the past fortnight, security forces have killed at least 30 Maoists in this region, including top commanders and cadres, in a string of violent encounters. Surrenders, too, are on the rise. Besides intense operations in Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, long a flashpoint, saw another bloodbath when four Maoists were recently gunned down and a fresh stockpile of arms and Naxal literature recovered. The point is to assume that the creation of the STC against this backdrop is entirely unrelated would seem naïve.


This is not to suggest the commission is a counter-insurgency tool in disguise. Rather, it is an attempt, however belated, to project the optics of inclusion, institution-building, and constitutional fidelity in a region where the state’s presence has too often been synonymous with the gun barrel. Tribal discontent in central India is rarely about ideology and primarily about land, displacement and the absence of genuine representation. In this context, the establishment of a commission devoted to Scheduled Tribes could serve both as a pressure valve and a political signal.


The move also reflects the growing political clout of tribal legislators in Maharashtra, given there are 25 in the state assembly and four in the Lok Sabha. These numbers are no longer electorally negligible. In recent years, tribal legislators have grown more vocal. This commission is, in part, the Mahayuti’s response to that appeal and also an effort to pre-empt further alienation of a voting bloc that helps swing seats in an increasingly competitive political landscape. That said, what tribal communities need is not another layer of bureaucracy but consistent implementation of the Forest Rights Act, targeted health and education services and a halt to exploitative displacement. The state’s track record on these counts remains patchy at best.


Furthermore, will this commission have investigative powers? Will its recommendations be binding? Or will it be another advisory body mired in red tape and underfunded in practice, like many of its predecessors?


Still, the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government appears keen to show the permanence of governance in the state’s tribal pockets. Whether tribal communities see this as a genuine gesture or yet another arm’s-length sop will depend not on cabinet resolutions but on results.

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