BHUBANESWAR: IT was 7 pm. Cuttack-Puri Road was chock-a-block with vehicles. There was not an inch any commuter could budge. A youth in his twenties made his way out of the exasperating crowd and managed to make his way to the cop blocking passage of the humongous traffic. He was on the verge of breaking into tears. “My father is in hospital, put on life support system.
I need to reach him fast. Please allow me passage,” he pleaded. The traffic policeman was sympathetic but expressed his inability to make any concession for him. “If I allow you, others will demand the same,” he reasoned. To vouch for his claims, the youth brought out his mobile phone to show the pictures of his ailing father, but it fell on deaf ears.
It was one of the many agonising stories that unfolded on Tuesday as traffic enforcement crumbled in the Capital City in face of the mad festive rush. Along Cuttack-Puri Road, it was a maddening experience for commuters as traffic swelled with pandals thrown open to puja revellers. As traffic restrictions were imposed unannounced on several roads to ease the crowds at Durga Puja pandals, the commuters were left to fend for themselves.
The worst hit were children and senior citizens who faced a harrowing time amidst the cacophony of blaring horns and irritating dust caused due to ongoing road works. Similar scenes were witnessed on routes leading to the puja pandals as stranded commuters fumed in frustration and confusion.
Compounding the situation was the inability of traffic police to offer any assistance to the distressed public. As the snarls assumed massive proportions and chaos reigned supreme on major thoroughfares, the traffic enforcers failed miserably to put the roads in order.