Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The citizens today complained of facing traffic congestion in different parts of the city ahead of the Diwali festival. Meanwhile, the eyebrows are being raised on the traffic management by the police.
It may be noted that the police diverted the traffic in different directions as the religious function of Pandit Dhirendra Shastri is going to be held at the Railway Station area for three days. The diversion in a random direction thus led to the traffic jam in different parts of the city. Thanks to the absence of planning and coordination of the city traffic branch.
Prior to the starting of Ram Katha programme at Ayodhyanagari Ground in Railway Station area, a ‘Kalash’ yatra was taken out from Kranti Chowk via Ahilyabai Holkar Chowk till the venue. The yatra was scheduled to start at 10 am, but got started late. The police diverted the traffic on different routes. Hence the areas like Kranti Chowk, Mahaveer Chowk, Aurangpura, Shahnoormiyan Dargah, Seven Hills, Divisional Sports Complex (Garkheda) and Jalna Road witnessed traffic congestion in the morning hours.
Adding to the woes, the vehicles coming from Kanchanwadi were allowed entry in the city from Sangramnagar flyover. Hence there was traffic congestion in Roplekar Hospital Chowk, Divisional Sports Complex area. On Jalna Road, the vehicles were directed to take a U turn from the roads beneath the flyovers on Jalna road. Hence the main road witnessed traffic jams for long hours.
The traffic congestion also pushed the government servants and private establishments staff in the morning. The students also were stuck for a long time in the traffic.
Box
To avoid traffic congestion in the city, the commissioner of police (CP) will be deploying one ACP, nine police inspectors, 23 APIs and PSIs, 209 police constables and 159 homeguards on Tuesday.
The ACP Dhananjay Patil said, “We will be deploying more staff on Tuesday than the strength deployed on Monday. The programme was to start from Kranti Chowk. This was the reason why there was traffic congestion in the morning hours. It also impacted on the traffic of Jalna Road. Meanwhile, the traffic was restored to normalcy in the afternoon. The traffic police were deployed at each point.”