India, Oct. 20 -- With Diwali having begun, thousands of Pune residents on Sunday headed back to their villages and hometowns to enjoy the festival of lights with their near-and-dear ones, resulting in heavy traffic on almost all highways connecting Pune to other parts of Maharashtra, not to mention serpentine vehicle queues at multiple toll plazas and junctions.

There was heavy congestion on major routes such as the Pune-Mumbai expressway, Pune-Solapur highway, and Pune-Nashik Road, particularly near toll plazas such as Talegaon, Khed Shivapur, and Urse. Despite the efforts of the state highway police, traffic movement remained sluggish throughout the day. To manage the surge, the state highway police has deployed additional personnel a...