Match spins traffic chaos

The roads in the Central Business District were chock-a-block as vehicles carrying spectators began arriving at the venue as early as 9 am. The traffic crawled on M G Road, Queen's Road, Cubbon Road, Residency Road, Richmond Road, Double Road and other stretches around the venue. The pell-mell reached a crescendo shortly before the scheduled start of the match at 2.30 pm.

“It is a terrible experience” said a motorist from Neelasandra who was on his way to J C Nagar. “Usually I reach J C Nagar in about 20 minutes. But it took me at least 35 minutes today,” he said.

About 300 traffic policemen deployed at the venue grappled to regulate vehicular movement. Vehicles of VVIPs and senior government officials on the left side of Queen's Road along the venue only worsened the situation and choked the stretch.

Players' arrival at the stadium around 12.30 pm gave a scare to the traffic police personnel. A Nagappa, ACP Traffic Central, admitted that the situation almost slipped out of their hands.

"It was not unexpected. People had lined up on either side of the road when players started arriving at the stadium. This caused a gridlock. Luckily, it was a Sunday and people had no engagements other than the match. So, we managed to get things in order," Nagappa said.

Fortunately, parking of vehicles was not a headache as elaborate arrangements were made at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. VVIP vehicles were parked at the BRV Grounds and inside the stadium.