Marina beach sees less crowd this Kaanum Pongal

The staff-in-charge at the lighthouse told TNIE that the crowd was not as large as the turnout seen in previous years after the pandemic.
The turnout at Marina Beach was not as big as last year on the occasion of Kaanum Pongal
The turnout at Marina Beach was not as big as last year on the occasion of Kaanum Pongal Photo | Martin Louisw
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CHENNAI: Marina beach, one of the city’s most popular destinations for Kaanum Pongal, remained largely crowd-free on Thursday evening as it looks many residents have left the city owing to the week-long holidays. The staff-in-charge at the lighthouse told TNIE that the crowd was not as large as the turnout seen in previous years after the pandemic.

However, some locals blame it on metro works and traffic diversion in lieu of it. “Roads were barricaded and people had to take longer detours to get here,” said Beula S, a resident of Mylapore.

Food stall owners also said they were expecting a bigger crowd. “Business has been slow. There are clusters here and there, but we were expecting a larger crowd today ,” said a food-stall owner.

Not enough buses

The MTC had announced the operation of 500 special buses to connect various parts of Chennai to popular tourist destinations ahead of Kanum Pongal, however, commuters faced hardships due to a shortage of buses in areas such as Tambaram, Guindy, Chrompet, Avadi, Ambattur, and other places.

According to an official statement from the MTC, 500 special buses have been introduced to facilitate travel to locations like Guindy Children’s Park, Vandalur Zoological Park, Kovalam, Besant Nagar, and Marina Beach. These buses are intended to supplement the regular services. However, MTC officials stated that depot managers were told to take a call on diverting buses depending on the demand. “500 additional buses were operated wherever feasible,” added an official.

Although city roads remained relatively clear in the afternoon, moderate traffic was observed in the evening, particularly on EVR Periyar Road, Kamarajar Salai, Poonamallee high road, ECR, Rajiv Gandhi Road, GST Road, and Anna Salai. Arterial roads leading to malls and beaches experienced congestion during the evening hours.

Some commuters said they had to wait for nearly 30 minutes for buses. “There were very few buses to Porur, Mangadu, and other areas. While traffic congestion wasn’t much of an issue, there were hardly any buses,” said a commuter, K Sarala from Chrompet.

Another commuter said there were not many buses to Poonamallee. “MTC depot officials mentioned that only 50% of the regular buses were running. Had I known there wouldn’t be enough buses, I wouldn’t have travelled to Avadi to meet my relatives,” said T Sham from Avadi.

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