BHUBANESWAR: It seems people’s inconvenience matters little to Commissionerate Police. On Sunday, denizens looking forward to a celebratory evening had a harrowing time as the some of the major roads witnessed massive traffic congestion.
Thousands of commuters were stranded along Rasulgarh-Kalpana square road as vehicular traffic came to a standstill for at least three hours with none able to address the problem. People had to spend much of their early evening trying to get out of the traffic jam as police was happy looking the other way.
At Rasulgarh Square, the traffic moved at snail’s pace for over three hours as there was a beeline of vehicles from Rasulgarh Square along Cuttack-Puri Road and vice-versa. The police attributed the massive rush to hundreds of people visiting a mall in Rasulgarh.
Interestingly, earlier in the day, the Men’s Hockey World Cup trophy was taken to the mall for putting it up for public display. Once the event was over, police arrangement thinned down but the footfall to the mall jumped for Christmas celebration.
For the handful of traffic personnel on duty, the mess that ensued was beyond control. As a result, a huge congestion built up. People who had booked cabs found it difficult to coordinate with the drivers and board the vehicles because of the traffic snarls.
Some people stuck near Rasulgarh Square drew comparison of the heavy traffic with the rush witnessed during Rath Yatra in Puri. “It seems Commissionerate Police has left people to suffer since their responsibility was over with the hockey world cup trophy programme as it was a government event,” said a commuter.
Many vehicles passing through Cuttack-Puri road wanted to take a U-turn to visit the mall. Buses coming towards Rasulgarh Square on the service road and vehicles approaching from Bomikhal flyover made the traffic situation even worse.
Besides, the vehicles having queued up on the road to enter the mall and those exiting it from Rasulgarh Industrial Estate added to the traffic woes. “Over 15 personnel were engaged to clear the traffic,” said an officer of Saheed Nagar police station.
It was not just along this stretch. People experienced similar traffic snarls near Patia too. The Patia-Damana segment saw another massive stuck-up on the day, prompting two-wheelers to ride on pedestrian tracks to escape the congestion.
