HYDERABAD: The swearing-in ceremony of six new ministers in the Chandrasekhar Rao government amidst much fanfare at Raj Bhavan ended up in utter chaos as traffic came to a grinding halt in several parts of the city, severely inconveniencing the people.
Traffic in Punjagutta, Somajiguda, Lakdikapul, Raj Bhavan Road, Begumpet came to a complete standstill on Tuesday morning, as thousands of TRS party members and supporters gathered from across the state to take part in the swearing-in ceremony of the new ministers.
Bemused citizens were completely unimpressed by the traffic situation and fumed at the authorities for causing this situation. “For god’s sake please control this traffic menace. We are suffering because of this this swearing-in ceremony,” lamented Sampath Prativadhi, a city-based social activist.
Several citizens were unable to attend their respective schools, workplace on time. “Each morning I drop my son at his school and go to my workplace. We always start early to avoid traffic, but there was no chance of doing that today. Traffic had come to a complete standstill on Raj Bhavan road and it was impossible to move an inch. As a result, my son was late for school and I for work,” rued Abhishek Shivram, who works at a BPO.
As if this was not enough, one of the newly inducted ministers, Talasani Srinivas Yadav took out a huge rally from Raj Bhavan to the Secretariat, as a show of strength, soon after the swearing in, which further compounded the problem.
‘’Why is it that the common man has to suffer because of these extravagant political ceremonies? Why can’t they hold a low-key event without compromising others’ well being? The new cabinet has not yet been formed and they are already causing a lot of nuisance to the public,” Abhishek fumed.
Denizens vocally expressed their displeasure at the situation and even went on to social networking sites to vent their ire. Many frustrated commuters even uploaded pictures of the horrendous traffic situation.
Traffic officials, however, defended themselves, claiming that traffic jams occur due to a variety of factors and not due to negligence on their part. ‘’These roads are busy even on regular days since a lot of office-going people travel on this route. Our officers still managed to do everything they could to control the traffic,” said a senior traffic official.
Officials also pointed out that a large number of party members and supporters, who had gathered for the ceremony, added to the traffic woes. “With people taking out political rallies and metro rail works taking place, there’s only so much we could do. We are only officers, not superhuman,” an official remarked.