Bengaluru: A sea of vehicles crawled on Ballari Road on Saturday morning to catch the air show at the Yelahanka Airforce Station. Traffic snarls began at Hebbal Flyover as early as 7 am and continued till the air show venue, causing inconvenience to those going to and coming from the Kempegowda International Airport, regular commuters and those travelling towards Hyderabad. The evening traffic was no different, and gridlocks had a cascading effect in different parts of the city.
Wing Commander M.D. Singh, Director, Defence Exhibition Organisation, told Deccan Chronicle that more than one lakh people visited the venue on Saturday. “We are yet to arrive at the final figure of visitors on Saturday. But it certainly crossed the one-lakh mark,” he said.
Though the traffic police had planned enough diversions and barricading, the volume of vehicles was so high that they could do nothing but watch the traffic increasing on the road every passing minute.
There was also commotion at the entry gates of the venue as a number of visitors had arrived at wrong entrances and were struggling to go from one entrance to another. The confusion caused further jams on the road and at entry points leading to the venue. Many of the ticket and pass holders were forced to watch the show sitting inside their car, outside the venue.
The police further contributed to the mess by diverting traffic onto the service road from the main stretch. Many villages, like Amruthahalli, that can be accessed only through the service road were literally cut off for the day. Local residents could not even cross the road or take out their vehicles from their houses. As the situation worsened, the police opened an additional lane on the flyover to give direct access to vehicles moving towards the airport and Hyderabad.
22/02/15 Amit S. Upadhye/Deccan Chronicle
Wing Commander M.D. Singh, Director, Defence Exhibition Organisation, told Deccan Chronicle that more than one lakh people visited the venue on Saturday. “We are yet to arrive at the final figure of visitors on Saturday. But it certainly crossed the one-lakh mark,” he said.
Though the traffic police had planned enough diversions and barricading, the volume of vehicles was so high that they could do nothing but watch the traffic increasing on the road every passing minute.
There was also commotion at the entry gates of the venue as a number of visitors had arrived at wrong entrances and were struggling to go from one entrance to another. The confusion caused further jams on the road and at entry points leading to the venue. Many of the ticket and pass holders were forced to watch the show sitting inside their car, outside the venue.
The police further contributed to the mess by diverting traffic onto the service road from the main stretch. Many villages, like Amruthahalli, that can be accessed only through the service road were literally cut off for the day. Local residents could not even cross the road or take out their vehicles from their houses. As the situation worsened, the police opened an additional lane on the flyover to give direct access to vehicles moving towards the airport and Hyderabad.
22/02/15 Amit S. Upadhye/Deccan Chronicle
No comments:
Post a Comment