As the spirit of festival of lights pervaded the twin cities, it seemed that all roads led to the market areas in Hubballi resulting in arterial roads getting choked for the third day in succession.
On the second day of the Deepavali festivities people were busy making purchases for Thursday’s Lakshmi Puja while several shopkeepers and businessmen performed Lakshmi Puja on Wednesday inviting friends and relatives.
The arterial roads of Hubballi started witnessing traffic jams on the eve of the festival on Monday and it continued on Tuesday and Wednesday too.
Although the Traffic Police were posted at strategic points, the roads could not take the load of thousands of vehicles pouring into the market areas resulting in traffic snarls on most of the roads. While entry to Durgad Bail market was banned, the roads leading to Durgad Bail witnessed heavy rush resulting in traffic jams. Koppikar Road, Broadway and Maratha Galli Junction became a bottleneck, frequently bringing vehicular movement to a standstill.
Traffic Police personnel and officers had a difficult time in streamlining vehicular movement and had to run from one section to the other to clear vehicles. On some road stretches, shopkeepers and local residents came out to help the police personnel in getting the roads cleared.
A resident of Maratha Galli said that it was routine experience for them during the festive days as the roads had remained the same, while the number of vehicles had increased.
Prakash Patil, a resident of Akshay Colony, said that it had more to do with people than the roads. “None of the motorists have patience and everybody wants to go first. And, moreover, there is utter disregard for traffic rules, which naturally leads to traffic jams,” he said.
A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said that they could not penalise the motorists as it was the festive season and there were instructions to be lenient as any stringent measure on the festival day might lead to unnecessary problems. The traffic congestions in the central business district is likely to continue for another day as Lakshmi Puja is performed in shops and offices on Thursday too.
