Pune’s worsening traffic, long a source of frustration for commuters, has now echoed in Parliament. AAP MP Raghav Chadha raised the issue on Friday, calling for stronger public transport solutions to tackle the crisis.
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He told the House that an average Punekar spends around 152 hours a year stuck in traffic, more than six full days lost on the road, placing Pune among the worst-affected cities in the country for congestion.
He urged a ‘National Urban Decongestion Mission’ with better public transport, smarter traffic management, and scientific parking to reduce $20–30 billion yearly losses from traffic congestion. “We are not stuck in traffic. We are stuck because of it. And if India wants its economy in the fast lane, our cities need to start moving,” he said.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha, Raghav Chadha underscored the grave effects of traffic congestion in India’s major metropolitan areas, such as Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai. He noted that, on average, commuters lose between 100 and 168 hours annually in traffic jams, leading to diminished productivity, unnecessary fuel consumption, higher pollution levels, and an overall decline in quality of life.
Giant parking lots
Sharing a clip from his Parliament speech, the AAP MP said traffic has turned major Indian cities into “giant parking lots.” Citing the TomTom Traffic Index 2025, he noted commuters spend 100–168 hours yearly stuck in traffic, calling it a major loss of productivity, fuel, and quality of life.
On Thursday morning, a massive traffic snarl on the Mumbai–Pune Expressway near Lonavala brought vehicles to a crawl for several kilometres. Heavy congestion during peak morning and evening hours is a routine occurrence in metropolitan areas such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata, and Chennai, where even short commutes can take hours to complete.
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