Thousands of Bangaloreans descended on the Air Force Station, Yelahanka, on Sunday to watch the display on the final day of Aero India 2013, causing a huge traffic pile up on National Highway 7.
An estimated 50,000 people turned up at the venue and a few thousands watched the show from nearby areas.
The traffic jams hit commuters travelling to and from the Bengaluru International Airport at Devanahalli here, with irate passengers getting into arguments with the traffic police.
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Traffic was especially bad between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., while similar scenes were witnessed post noon, between 3 p.m. and 5.30 p.m., around the time when the air display was coming to an end, marking the close of the 9th edition of the biennial show.
In fact, several visitors missed the morning show as the traffic piled up from Hebbal flyover.
“It took me more than an hour to reach the air force station gate from the BSF facility, which is a few hundred meters away. Traffic came to a grinding halt,” said Bhanu Prasad, who arrived after the morning display came to an end. Though he left home expecting heavy traffic, he still didn’t make it on time to watch the display, he said.
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Tempers run high
Tempers ran high among motorists, even as traffic came to a halt. The situation was compounded by the public rally organised by the Bahujan Samaj Party at Palace Grounds, traffic police officials said.
Around 700 traffic police personnel were deployed along the route to manage traffic, and after 3 p.m., another 100 were called in.
With the public coming in hordes, authorities manning the gates also had a tough time managing the crowd and verbal altercations ensued.
Traffic was close to normal at around 6 p.m.