Festive time brings zest plus snarl-ups

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With Ramzan and Onam around the corner, many roads in the city are already showing signs of heavy traffic congestion during the weekend.

On Saturday and Sunday, shoppers poured into the city in large numbers. Main roads and smaller roads were choked with cars and there were traffic jams due to the heavy inflow of private and other vehicles into the busy shopping areas. It was bumper-to-bumper traffic from Kaloor to Kacheripady, caused by the sudden spurt in the number of private vehicles coming to the city from various parts of the district. (Most shoppers arriving in the city prefer private vehicles to public transport.)

Meanwhile, the traffic police informed that more personnel would be deployed to control the heavy traffic during festival days. “Additional traffic policemen will be stationed at strategic spots,” confirmed Baby Vinod, assistant commissioner, Traffic.

It is hoped that, with more cops on the roads, traffic might still be manageable during the next two weeks, when shopping will be at its most frenzied.

Passengers said, on Saturday, evening bus travel from Palarivattom to Menaka took more than an hour compared to the normal less-than-half-an-hour journey.

“We chose Sunday for Ramzan shopping, hoping that there would be less traffic. But there was a serpentine queue of vehicles from the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium to MG Road,” complained Abdul Rahman from Perumbavoor.