65-km traffic jam on NH-19 in Bihar; vehicles stuck for 4 days

For the fourth consecutive day, hundreds of vehicles are stuck in a massive traffic jam on one section of the Delhi-Kolkata highway in Bihar. The jam has extended to 65 kilometres.

The traffic jam is due to torrential rains last Friday in Rohtas district in Bihar. As a result of the rains, service roads were flooded on National Highway 19, reports said.

Also read: Yamuna waterlogging causes massive traffic jams in Delhi

“The situation has become extremely serious near Sasaram due to a several-kilometre-long traffic jam on the Delhi-Kolkata Highway. Due to waterlogging in the highway's service lane, the traffic system has completely collapsed,” DD News Bihar posted on its X (formerly Twitter) account with a video of the traffic jam.

Potholes have appeared everywhere on these roads, and waterlogging has caused vehicles to slither, worsening the traffic jams by the hour. Even covering a distance of a few kilometres takes hours. The traffic jam clogging the highway has now stretched to Aurangabad, which is nearly 65 km from Rohtas, according to a report in NDTV.

"In the past 30 hours, we have travelled only 7 kilometres. Despite paying tolls, road taxes, and other expenses, we still face hours of traffic jams. Neither NHAI personnel nor the local administration are visible on the road," Praveen Singh, a truck driver caught in the jam, was quoted as saying in the report.

"Have been stuck in traffic jams for two days. We are hungry and thirsty and in a miserable state. Even covering a few kilometres is taking hours," said Sanjay Singh, another truck driver.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) have refused to comment on the massive traffic jam, reports said.