COIMBATORE: Coimbatore city police drew flak over poor traffic arrangements during the light show at Valankulam on Sunday night. Thousands of vehicles converged on Valankulam leaving the roads choked, and at least eight ambulances were stuck in the traffic. It took around three hours for normalcy to be restored.
To welcome 2024, Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation, along with a private firm, organized an event on the Valankulam Lake Bund situated between the Sungam Bypass and Trichy Road. A drone show, laser light show, street carnival and celebrity performances were part of the revelry. As no entry fee was charged, people started gathering at the lake from 7 pm, and as time went on, thousands more arrived, choking traffic on the two roads. Motorists passing through the roads expressed anguish that they had to wait for hours and accused police and CCMC of failing to anticipate the crowd and arranging traffic diversion or parking facilities. The light show was held near the flyover on the bypass while the street carnival programs were held on the road behind the lake connecting Sungam junction.
Apart from this, the city witnessed heavy traffic congestion from 11 pm to 2 am as people gathered for the New Year celebrations in Racecourse and RS Puram. Many vehicles were parked along the roads due to inadequate parking facilities. Around eight ambulances got stuck in this congestion in the Coimbatore Government Hospital as the programme venue was just 300 metres away. After a long struggle ambulances went out with the help of the public, said sources
“Authorities and organizers avoided some events due to objections that such events would affect the lake’s environment. However, it is not a good practice to continue using Valankulam, one of the bio-diversity-rich water bodies in city, for such activities. Also, during the event held on Sunday night, police were very negligent which led the public to face traffic issues. All officers were seated in a safe place but due to a lack of proper arrangements, public bore the brunt of traffic snarls till 3 am. No matter how important the event is, arrangements should be made for emergency needs,” said K Lawrence Mathew from Peelamedu who missed New Year mass as he got stuck in the traffic.
It may be recalled that even during 2023 celebrations, there were severe traffic snarls on Sungam Bypass Road and Trichy Road. When contacted, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M Rajarajan said the traffic was affected as more than one lakh people gathered at Valankulam. “Police personnel along with home guards and volunteers were deployed for the traffic regulation.
Even though there were many parking places, vehicles were parked along the roads at many places and the situation became normal before 3 am on Monday. We had informed ambulance services to avoid Trichy Road. Some of the operators used Trichy Road when it was stuck in the congestion. Before the celebrations, we intensified vehicle checking at around 50 places across the city and flyovers were temporarily closed. No major accident was reported during the New Year celebration,” Rajarajan said.
While Coimbatore city police said there were no fatal accidents reported during the celebrations, in rural limit (district police) two fatal and 11 non-fatal cases were reported on Sunday night. The fatal cases were reported in Karumathampatti and Pollachi sub-divisions. On Monday, hundreds of people thronged temples across the district. Special poojas were performed at Maruthamalai Murugan temple and Eachnari Vinayagar temple.