Rath procession blocks traffic for 3 hours

Rath procession blocks traffic for 3 hours
Deccan Herald

Traffic came to a standstill for three hours in parts of East Bangalore on Monday morning thanks to a religious procession passing through the area.

Traffic came to a standstill for three hours in parts of East Bangalore on Monday morning thanks to a religious procession passing through the area.

“There was a traffic jam on Kensington Road, Murphy Road, MEG Road (near the Ulsoor lake), Arunachalam Mudaliar Road and Quadroon Circle because of the ratha procession, from 8.30 to 11.30 am,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police M A Saleem.

Some of the commuters, who were struck in the traffic snarl for more than an hour, told Deccan Herald that apart from these roads, the surrounding ones were also chock-a-block, leaving them with no space to move out of the logjam.

“It was office time and so many of us were held up, without anyone to tell us the reason behind the jam. There was utter chaos on the roads. We thought the traffic police may made the ACM Road one-way,” said Anil of Cox Town, who was caught off guard with hundreds of others.

“It takes me 15-20 minutes to reach my office on MG Road. Today I was held up for more than an hour,” said Kaushik of Frazer Town.



One too many

At the MG Road junction, there was a traffic snarl around noon when Bhoomiheena Mattu Vasatiheena Rakshane Sene activists, who were holding a demonstration at the Mahatma Gandhi statue, ran across the road and sat in dharna, blocking traffic.

On Sunday, traffic on Nrupathunga Road was diverted through Cubbon Park because of the Id-Milad procession, between 6 pm and 9.

Processions, religious or otherwise, have become routine in the City, resulting in incessant traffic jams and immense public inconvenience. Worse, most of these processions are generally held between 11 am and 1 pm, the peak traffic hours.

“Whenever we have advance information, we alert the public through media. For instance, on April 4, 5 and 7, there will be major traffic diversions because of Ulsoor pallaki. We will inform the public of the details in advance,” said the DCP.

“Bangalore doesn’t have the road capacity to take the load of vehicular traffic and the pile-up due to processions. One reason is that there’s no public place earmarked for protests. This problem will ease once the Freedom Park at Gandhinagar comes up. Most protests will then be held in the 6-acre land there which has been set aside for protest demos, public rallies, etc,” said Mr Saleem.