Parts of city fell under traffic gridlock on Saturday after the Open Street Festival that involved spreading out the Dasara events over different localities.
The authorities also drew flak for what a section of the public described as lack of foresight in anticipating such a development. What caused the gridlock was the decision to conduct the festival on Krishnaraja Boulevard Road – the same road leading to the venue of two other popular events namely, Yuva Dasara and Ahaara Mela.
As wave after wave of student groups and the general public started descending on the venue in the evening, it became clear that people were in for a nightmarish experience while getting out. What also contributed to the mess was the decision of the police to block vehicle movement along a few roads as part of crowd and traffic management. This backfired as people were forced to use bylanes and gullies that choked the roads.
A normal six minute drive from the court premises to residential areas like Kuvempunagar and Sarawathipuram took about 90 minutes. As the police struggled to manage traffic by diverting the vehicles, there were places as in Ashokapuram where a large number of local youths stepped into manage the vehicle movement.
