Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court has sought a response from key authorities within seven days regarding the massive 40-hour traffic jam that occurred on the Indore-Dewas Road on Friday, allegedly leading to the death of three individuals.

A public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Dewas-based advocate Anand Adhikari brought the issue before the court. The division bench comprising justices Vivek Rusia and Pawan Kumar Dwivedi heard the matter on Monday and issued notices to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Indore collector and Indore police commissioner. The court also directed that the toll and construction companies involved be made parties in the case.

Advocate Girish Patwardhan, representing the petitioner, informed the court that the death of three people due to the traffic jam was highlighted in the PIL.

However, he added that further proceedings would depend on the responses from all parties involved.

During the hearing, the counsel for the NHAI controversially remarked, “Why do people leave so early without reason?”

The jam reportedly began on Friday, stretching for 8 kilometres and lasting for nearly 40 hours.

The deceased included Kamal Panchal (62) from Indore, Balram Patel (55) from Shujalpur and Sandeep Patel (32) from Gari Pipliya village. Two reportedly died of heart attacks while the third, a patient, passed away before reaching a hospital.

Indore collector Asheesh Singh, who inspected the area on Saturday, blamed the poorly constructed service roads by NHAI for the crisis. “The service roads are too weak to handle the pressure from heavy vehicles, causing potholes and bottlenecks,” he said. He also pointed out that traffic from the under-construction Indore-Ujjain road and the ongoing flyover project at Manglia had intensified the congestion on the Indore-Dewas stretch.

The NHAI, however, denied direct responsibility. Project director Somesh Banjhal said on Sunday that the reported deaths were not directly linked to the traffic jam near Arjun Baroda bypass. According to their investigation, two deaths occurred in different areas — one en route from Shajapur to Indore and the other in the Lasudia region.

Banjhal also claimed that repair work on the diversion routes had been completed and that traffic was now moving normally.