VIJAYAWADA: On Sunday, the Krishna district suffocated with traffic congestion, as around 14 lakh pilgrims started off to visit the pushkar ghats for taking holy bath. In many junctions and roads, including highways, serpentine lines of vehicles got stuck in traffic jams and moved at snail’s pace.
Due to heavy traffic congestion, pilgrims reached their destinations very late. “My bus took more than one hour to reach Vijayawada from Gollapudi this morning on my way to the city,” said KV Devaraju, a pilgrim from Hyderabad.
The Avanigadda-Hamsaladivi Road witnessed jamming of vehicles in a stretch of 4 km. The situation was same in Gollapudi and Ibrahimpatnam roads (the approaching roads to Vijayawada). As the pilgrim influx surged, main junctions in the city and areas like Police Control Room, Lower Bridge area, roads towards Varadhi near Krishna Lanka and the one between Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) and railway station remained choc-a-bloc with traffic.
There was a situation when the RTC buses did not find a way to move in and out of the bus station. The police issued cautions to the public against using their own vehicles and asked them to avail RTC bus services.
“The traffic police had managed the congestion situations well in the city. There was continuous movement of vehicles, but not heavy jams. At the Police Control Room, traffic was blocked when most of pilgrims coming out of the PNBS and railway stations were crossing the roads at junctions,” said DIG Ch Srikanth, incharge for traffic management.