Madness on MG Road

Madness on MG Road



TIMES NEWS NETWORK



Bangalore: Traffic came to a full stop for over four hours on Thursday on the city’s MG Road, located in the heart of the city, during the morning-noon peak hours.
A fire at the Public Utility Building (PUB) and a procession by the Janata Dal (United) against the proposed creation of a special economic zone at Nandagudi led to chaos on the road, making traffic policemen, vehicle-users and pedestrians sweat it out.
Vehicles started piling up at 12.30 pm after the fire broke out at the PUB on MG Road. In fact, commuters were caught unawares as they had no information about either the protest or the fire. A huge convoy of fire tenders, official and private vehicles as well as PUB employees and onlookers also contributed to the traffic jam. It had a cascading effect on other roads — Residency Road, Brigade Road, St Mark’s Road, Raj Bhavan Road, Cubbon Road, Queen’s Road and Kasturba Road. For over three hours, the policemen stopped vehicles entering MG Road from Mayo Hall junction and Brigade Road junction to make way for fire tenders. The situation worsened due to the JD(U) protest.
It was only around 4.30 pm that the situation eased. The time coincided with CM H D Kumaraswamy’s arrival to the city as he travelled from the airport to his residence without delay via the designated Cubbon Road.

Farmers protest against SEZ

Thousands of farmers from Nandagudi descended at the Mahatma Gandhi Statue on MG Road on Thursday, demanding that the government revoke its SEZ plans in Nandagudi.
This time, Congress that received brickbats for playing a “double game’’. “While the Congress lead-UPA at the Centre approved SEZ plan, the party, which is the opposition, is fighting against it,’’ said JD(U) president B Somashekar. The eight-hour-long protest comprised a drive with slogan-shouting bands from Nandagudi, a walk from Ulsoor to Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to governor T N Chaturvedi.