The choking of a key mid-city traffic route, the stretch from Morris College Square to Samvidhan Square, on Monday afternoon spun a web of traffic jams forcing citizens to move round and round to reach other parts of the city. Monday’s event again shows the vulnerability of the closure of central road stretch in city, as the pressure shifts to adjoining road portion, putting strain on the men and machinery, alike. The stretches in Civil Lines, Dharampeth, Maharajbag Road, Sitabuldi portion of Amravati Road, saw bumper-to-bumper movement as traffic crawled as the vehicle population was beyond their capacity.

 

The city police had barricaded the portion in view of protest organised by Congress-Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) to prevent their proposed march to Mahal. To be on safer side, police put up heavy bandobast and doubling on that, they also sealed the entry and exit on the stretch and packed all the sides, thus putting a spanner in the smooth flow of traffic. It being the start of the week, there was heavy rush on the road and the traffic snarls all around was testimony to the fact. The curve at the Freedom Park Metro Station added to challenges for the road users, causing unnecessary hindrance at the turn. The sharp curve due to peculiar angle of the road forced two-wheeler riders and motorists not only to slow down, but carefully negotiating the acute angle on the stretch. Then ahead, one could witness a long queue on the otherwise deserted road during weekdays, as near the crossing in front of varsity and Institute of Science, a criss-cross movement left cops searching for smoother path to ensure free flow of traffic.

 

The spillover of heavy flow also lead to long queue on Maharajbag Road from Varsity Library to the Maharajbag Square. The two constables posted at the other end of the new road adjoining Varsity’s erstwhile administrative headquarters were simply unable to enforce the rule, as citizens seemed in terrible hurry. The result was total lack of discipline and everyone wanting to somehow move ahead first, not ready to make room for others. The situation on the Kamptee Road fly-over near LIC Square too was choc-a-bloc as the road ahead was barricaded by the cops, leaving citizens to think of other ways to reach towards Sitabuldi and other areas. The mid-afternoon crisis soon spread to other areas of Civil Lines. The road behind Vidhan Bhavan too saw long queue of vehicles as people sought to wriggle out of tight situation. Although, Traffic Police had notified the diversions, the plan however failed to take effect, causing chaos on the city streets.