CHENNAI: Even as the State, including its schools, colleges and businesses functioning normally on Monday morning, things took a turn for the worse late Monday afternoon as news and rumour mills went into overdrive.
At around 2 pm in the afternoon, some schools began closing ahead of time, asking parents to pick up their wards. Many IT offices also shut down for the day around the same time, leading to massive traffic congestion around 4:30 pm, especially in areas such as LB road, Adyar, Royapettah High Road, TTK Road, Dinakaran Salai, Cathedral Road, Mandaveli, Mylapore and Madhya Kailash.
Public transport in the city also took a hit with buses plying only in a few major areas. An MTC spokesperson said that the only reason the buses were not plying was because the police had blocked several areas across the city, making it nearly impossible for buses to run. However, at dusk, bus service seemed to have come to a complete halt. In Tiruvannamalai, two KSRTC buses and one TNSTC bus were attacked in three separate stone-pelting incidents early on Monday. Lorry drivers were also caught in the hysteria with drivers in Coimbatore complaining of a reduced load booking on Monday.
Auto and cab drivers in Chennai are alleged to have charged exorbitant rates or simply refused service if the destination was anywhere close to areas in the city where tension prevailed.
As the events began unfolding since late afternoon, Chennai residents rushed to petrol outlets, grocery shops, medical stores to stock supplies, fearing a complete shut-down in the State. Essentials seemed to fly off the shelves and serpentine queues were seen at the payment counters of many supermarkets.