Bengaluru: A temple festival right in the middle of a road brought traffic on the Bannerghatta Road to standstill for more than three hours and its ripple effect was felt on vehicular movement in the entire south Bengaluru on Wednesday evening. A 100-metre stretch on the Tilak Nagar main road was blocked to conduct the ritual as part of Karaga festival. It was sponsored by many politicians, including city in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy who attended the function in the evening.
The organisers had even dug up a portion of the road to prepare a fire pit to conduct kenda seve, a ritual where devotees run over red hot coal. The devotees started gathering at the Maha Shakti Maariyamma temple located next to the Swagat Garuda Mall since Wednesday morning and by evening the traffic was brought to a halt.
The motorists and commuters were fuming as no traffic advisories were issued and no measures were taken to divert the traffic. The roads and lanes adjacent to Bannerghatta Road soon got choked as motorists tried to seek short cuts to beat the gridlock. The organisers of the event however defended themselves and stated that walking on red hot coal was being organised by the temple for over forty years. “It’s the 42nd annual ritual and happens every year.
The police were informed in advance about the ritual, which is organised for a week during the same time of the year,” said one of the organising member. However the traffic police point out that there are numbers of such religious functions which are organised throughout the city and traffic snarls are reported during such functions.
“One cannot say no to such rituals if they are being organised for many years. The permission for the religious rituals is granted after going through several factors and the commuters are often advised to take alternative routes during such occasions,” said B Dayanand, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic).
However, on Wednesday no such messages were issued by the police.
The 100-metre stretch of road near Swagat Garuda mall, where the rituals were being organised, links Bannerghatta Road with parts of North Bengaluru.
