If Monday was bad, Tuesday was worse. On the first day of the protest, only roads in and around Bommanahalli, Electronics City and Hosur Road were affected. On the second day, commuters were being held hostage on roads in the western and northern parts too. Important highways and vital junctions across the city were sealed, leading to a traffic nightmare for most part of the day.
Protests erupted at multiple locations around 9.30 a.m. catching the traffic police off guard. Though police deployment on Hosur Road had been increased following the chaos on Monday, they did not expect similar situations to spring up in other parts of the city as well.
Rajesh. B., a resident of Kodigehalli, returned home after realising that he would be unable to reach his Yeshwantpur office on time after being stuck near BEL Circle for two hours.
Manoj, who went from Sunkadakatte to M.G. Road, reached office nearly three hours late.
Stretches around Tumakuru Road, Gorguntepalya, Kanteerava Studio, Jalahalli Cross, ISKCON temple and Peenya Industrial Area saw massive traffic jams, with the entire ORR also being blocked. Almost all of north Bengaluru came to a standstill as industry workers from the Rajajinagar Industrial Area held a token protest and a ‘rasta roko’ at West of Chord Road. With the agitation spreading to Nelamangala as well, commuters from outside the city too had to bear the brunt.
Mysuru Road Maddur, Bidadi and Ramanagara, were also affected.
At Hosur Road, despite a larger deployment, police were outnumbered. By noon, the road was blocked again. The protest and violence later spread to Hebbagodi and Anekal.
