PM Modi, Rahul Gandhil poll razzmatazz to hit traffic

Hyderabad: For motorists and commuters who got stranded in huge traffic jams at Parade Ground, where the TRS was holding a public meeting, on Sunday, Monday promises to be more difficult.

Traffic restrictions have been ordered for events headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, which will be held at about the same time.

While traffic restrictions will be in place around LB Stadium from 2 pm, Mr Gandhi’s convoy will be on the road in the Jubilee Hills and Kukatpally area during the peak hours of 4 pm to 7 pm.

Traffic is difficult even on normal days. IT employee M. Rakesh, who commutes between Krishnanagar and Madhapur, said RTC buses get stuck for about 45 minutes near the Jubilee Hills check post. “I prefer to walk 2 km to reach my residence,” he said.

Irritated by having to wait for politicians’ vehicles to pass, Mr Mohit Soni from Abids said “India is following other countries in a lot of things, why we do not follow them with regard to stopping vehicles for politicians.”

Some commuters wanted a changed system. Mr Abhishek Bhakkad, who is with the Ameerpet Youth Club, suggested that political parties instead of arranging rallies should reach out people by visiting every home through their representatives.

On Sunday, routes leading to Parade Ground were crammed with traffic. On many roads, vehicles hired by the TRS to transport its workers were parked on the roadside, making matters worse. Police had issued a traffic advisory and earmarked parking lots for the vehicles, but this was largely ignored. For example, RTC buses were parked on the main road at Begumpet, which occupied a lot of road space.

A motorist, Mr Vipula Reddy Teja, said on Twitter, “Please make sure ambulances pass easily through traffic blocked by political parties rallies. I can see four ambulances at Secunderabad now blocked in traffic near Parade Ground for the arrival of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.”

The road between Rasoolpura Metro Rail station and Sangeet crossroads was restricted to one-way, even then the traffic crawled. Many commuters stopped their vehicles on the flyover to take snapshots of the huge crowd at Parade Ground, worsening the situation,

“Every day traffic slows down at the U-turn near Wesley College as the vehicles which are turning enters the adjacent lane. As vehicles carrying party workers had  occupied half the road width, vehicles taking U-turn blocked the traffic, though a traffic cop was posted at the spot,” said Mr B. Shekar whose vehicle got struck in the traffic. 

A Twitter user, Piyush, posted, ”Too much traffic at Paradise circle. Please take action immediately (sic).” To this, the Hyderabad traffic police replied, “Inconvenience is regretted sir, taking all measures to maintain free flow of traffic.”