Thousands of people were put to hardship as their vehicles got jammed in traffic in central parts of the City for over five hours on Thursday following a huge rally taken out by anganwadi workers to draw the government’s attention to their long-pending demands.
At least 10,000 anganwadi workers from across Karnataka took out a procession from the City railway station to the Freedom Park, paralysing traffic on arterial roads.
Even after the procession concluded at the Freedom Park in the evening, vehicular movement remained paralysed on many roads as hundreds of protesters squatted on Seshadri Road.
The gridlock began around 11 am as protesters began gathering near the railway station. Motorists coming from Okalipuram, Goodshed Road and the adjoining areas struggled to move ahead as the roads around the railway station were blocked.
Frustration
As the frustrated motorists began moving towards the Freedom Park, traffic came to a complete halt in the entire Majestic area as well as around Mysore Bank Circle and Anand Rao Circle.
The traffic police had to stop the vehicles aiming to move on the flyover towards Anand Rao Circle and diverted them towards Race Course Road. Roads around Majestic, Magadi Road, Malleswaram, KG Nagar, Dr Raj Kumar Road, Seshadripuram main road, Shivananda Circle and other areas were completely blocked and no vehicle could move an inch for at least an hour, said a traffic policeman who was at the spot. Many policemen, who manned traffic on the roads, said they didn’t foresee such a large crowd turning up for the protest.
A senior officer said a message was flashed across all stations in the west police division to clear the gridlock. More than 100 traffic policemen were deployed at various junctions around Majestic and the neighbouring areas.
Many motorists were seen switching off their vehicles and having refreshments at roadside eateries.
S S Sharma, a sales manager at a private company, was among those stuck in the jam in the Majestic area.
“I had to go to Ulsoor to meet a client. So I took a detour through Vasanthnagar and the Cantonment railway station,” he said.
