Hours after a social media message about one lakh weddings and a clutch of VVIP movements in the city over the week went viral, the Hyderabad police issued a statement reassuring the citizens about normalcy. “Commuters in Hyderabad need not panic. We are requesting security agencies to take routes which would cause minimum inconvenience. From 28th afternoon to 29th afternoon there would be VVIP movements in ORR-Gachibowli- Miyapur-Madhapur corridor. Traffic is likely to be normal in rest of the areas. Commuters are requested not to panic over the social media posts,” said the police statement.
But it didn’t cut much ice with the citizens as a number of weddings have been lined up on November 23 and 24 with receptions spilling over to November 25 and 26. “We have received about eight invitations. Some at Kompally and a few at Jubilee Hills. We are likely to attend only one. Guess the traffic will be a nightmare on these ‘ muhurtham heavy nights’,” said R.S. Akam, a resident of Kondapur.
“We will release a formal statement on traffic restrictions during the duration of Global Entrepreneurship Summit-2017 at Madhapur by November 24. Yes, there will be restriction of movement in the area,” said an official of the Society for Cyberabad Security Council.
Many residents who were delighted by the sprucing up of the area are now a jittery lot. The GES is scheduled to be held at HICC on November 28-30 with about 1,500 delegates, entrepreneurs, and officials taking part in one of the biggest global events to be hosted in the city. The road to HICC intersects some of the most heavily used roads in the western part of the city.
Wedged between Gachibowli-Miyapur road, Hafeezpet-KPHB road and HiTec City main road, the HICC is surrounded by densely-populated residential areas. Traffic movement is likely to be affected in the area due to the GES. “Guess I will have to leave early to be on time at work. The road near my house is always choked. But with this big event and traffic policemen everywhere, I will have to plan ahead,” said Divya Bolisetty, who works in an IT firm at Gachibowli.
In other parts of the city too, traffic flow would be affected with back-to-back weddings on November 23 ( Mrigasira Shukla Panchami ) till November 26. “We have three halls and 12 weddings and receptions between November 23 and 26. We had a wedding season in October and after these four auspicious days, there are no muhartams till March first week and hence the rush,” said Pavan of KMG Function Halls at the ring road area.
“A good wedding season comes post-Deepavali. But for three successive years, we have limited number of auspicious days. Our business is not affected, but those organising the weddings are having trouble with cooks, decorators, priests, and even mineral water suppliers,” said Chandramohan of Crystal Gardens function hall.
Flower price
Interestingly, despite the spike in the number of weddings over the next few days, the wholesale flower sellers at Gudimalkapur said the price has remained constant. “The price of flowers in the market is linked to demand and supply. The demand for flowers is high for two days, but it has not led to a spike in the price as expected. If high demand was for one week, we would have seen a price surge. The price of these Thai orchids have remained at ₹280 per bunch,” said M.A. Zakeb, a wholesale flower seller.
