Caught Cricket, Bowled Metro

Caught Cricket, Bowled Metro

Long queues for KPL and public transport blocking traffic will be a common feature over next two weeks

Soumya Menon. Bangalore



The closure of Central Street, which links several roads to Shivajinagar after the Namma Metro work started on MG Road, has led to chaotic travel for motorists on MG Road.
The inauguration of the Karnataka Premier League at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday piled on the woes of the road users.
Roads were clogged all through the day, especially at peak hours.
Long queues for the KPL and public transport vehicles blocking traffic on MG Road will be a common feature over the next couple of weeks.
With the commencement of KPL kickstarting on Wednesday, thousands of people thronged the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Traffic was clogged on Minsk Square, GPO Circle, Queens Road, Kasturba Road and MG Road because of KPL. Police officers said that parking is a huge problem there with over 1,000 cars being parked inside the stadium for the first two
matches.
Police sources said that KSCA had arranged parking facility at Cathedral School and College near Vellara junction for their members to ease the inconvenience, while public had massive problem with parking.
Meanwhile, the major reason for the chaotic traffic has been the closure of Central Street, which was the easy route for BMTC buses to reach Shivajinagar from Kasturba Road.
Additional commissioner of police (Traffic), Praveen Sood, said that MG Road will be chaotic for at least 20 days because of the closure of Central Street.
"All traffic via Anil Kumble Circle through Central Street to Shivajinagar has been blocked. Now, buses and other vehicles have been diverted. Most buses have to take longer routes and reach Trinity Circle, which is also adding to the chaos under the present circumstances. The increased impact is due to the KPL activities. We have also blocked parking on MG Road to enable more space for vehicles to move,'' said Sood.
BMTC officials said that they were informed in advance about the closure of Central Street and that their buses plying on those routes have been asked to take diversions. "It is troublesome as it disturbs the frequency of buses, but we have to go through this for at least 20 days until the Metro Work is completed in that stretch,'' he said.
Meanwhile, commuters are complaining that Cubbon Road has been badly clogged and roads leading towards Commercial Street via Kamraj Road was not manned by any traffic policeman.
Traffic policemen and law and order policemen were seen struggling to control the chaos on MG Road, starting from the Mahatma Gandhi statue to Trinity Circle.
The road and junctions affected included GPO Circle, Minsk Square, Queens Road, Kasturba Road, MG Road, Cubbon Road, Kamraj Road, Manipal Centre and Trinity Circle.