The Hindu : Heavy rush leads to traffic snarls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 07, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Heavy rush leads to traffic snarls

By Our Bureau

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 6 . The entire city road network was caught in a massive gridlock for hours today evening as the reverse influx of devotees for the Attukal pongala clogged the main routes. All the roads in a five km radius from the temple were jammed. Thousands of vehicles were stranded for hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

As policemen watched helplessly, the gridlock extended throughout the city. The Thampanoor and East Fort areas were a sea of humanity as devotees scrambled for some means of transport to return home after a tiring day under the hot sun.

The roads leading to the Uppidamoodu bridge from Overbridge, Vanchiyoor, Ayurveda College, Sreekanteswaram and Kaithamukku were heavily blocked. The National Highway bypass from Eenchakal to Chakka remained clogged for hours. Volunteers deployed by various agencies teamed up with the police to clear the traffic snarls.

Right from early morning, thousands of vehicles streamed into the city from all over the district and beyond. Police had a tough time regulating traffic along the roads leading to the temple. Even though the authorities had banned parking on roads in the festival zone, the instructions were defied.

At many locations, volunteers, leading to heated arguments with motorists who were forced to take circuitous routes, cordoned off whole stretches of roads.

Vehicles were parked haphazardly on the roads leading to the Uppidamoodu bridge. At some places, ambulances carrying burn victims had to wait for the volunteers to clear a way through the hearths on both sides of the roads.

Traffic policemen who were posted at various locations said their number was too small to clear the mess. Many of them complained that the bulk of the force was posted along the main road, leaving them with little manpower to unravel the snarls along link roads. Though the police force was augmented with men from other districts, it proved to be too ineffective to handle the massive influx.

The entire city resembled a dustbowl as the crumbled raw bricks combined with the ash from the hearths to raise a lingering cloud. Motorists had to cover their faces with wet handkerchiefs to keep out the dust. Many junctions along the main road were littered with heaps of plastic cups left behind by devotees and caps and visors emblazoned with commercial messages.

Government agencies, voluntary organisations and residents associations joined hands to provide assistance to the devotees. Medical teams set up temporary clinics and mobile units to offer emergency assistance. Several pilgrims who suffered sunstroke were rushed to hospital by ambulance. A large number of autorickshaws offered free rides to the devotees.

Compliments supplied by various agencies came in as a blessing for the devotees who were seen braving the heat from the hearth and sun as well as the smoke. There was good demand for the paper caps supplied by various agencies. However, it was the fans with the advertisement of various soaps, banks, cassettes and newspapers which were in demand around the temple.

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