The eight-kilometre-long padayatra from the high-security Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple to Tirupparankundram Subramaniaswamy Temple by the AIADMK men, led by Minister Sellur K. Raju, on Sunday came in for criticism from the public as traffic came to a grinding halt.
The Meenakshi temple, which is considered a sterile zone by police, was virtually taken over by the large contingent of the party cadres who had assembled on the Chitirai streets.
While pilgrims visiting the shrine were put to untold hardship, the police too were not fully geared up as the ruling party functionaries had given a very short notice about their plan, a police officer on bandobust duty near Netaji Road said.
Though the cadres started arriving from 6.30 a.m., the padayatra commenced around 8 a.m. and went through all the busy junctions of Netaji Road, Periyar bus stand, The Madura College and Andalpuram. As the crowd reached Palanganatham, vehicle movement came to a standstill for over 45 minutes. Between the welcome arch near Palanganatham and Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College, vehicles, including at least three emergency service (ambulance) vehicles, had a tough time in passing through the crowd.
A traffic police officer said that while the head of the padayatra reached the destination at 10.30 a.m., those in the tail reached it by noon.
However, vehicle movement eased beyond Pasumalai as many padayatris too took to shade due to the scorching sun.
No police officer was willing to speak on record about the ‘concession’ shown to the AIADMK members in taking out the march from the high-security temple, but the public resentment was visible on the faces of road users.
