JD(S) rally: Traffic comes to a crawl

Karnataka : Bengaluru : 17/02/2018 : Traffic Jam on Bellary Road which is reaching to Bengaluru international road due to Vikasa Parva convention organized by Karnataka Pradesh Janatadal (S) at Yalahanka in Bengaluru on Saturday 17 February 2018. Photo : Sudhakara Jain.

In a repeat of last year and the chaos that many in the city recall from 2008, traffic came to a crawl from Palace Grounds to Nitte Meenakashi College in Yelahanka for several hours on Saturday as lakhs of vehicles thronged to the venue of the Vikasa Parva rally by Janata Dal (Secular).

Traffic started piling up on the busy Ballari Road by noon for the rally scheduled at 4 p.m. Police said around two lakh vehicles with JD(S) supporters moved towards Nitte college.

The worse affected were people commuters heading towards the Kempegowda International Airport.

Even participants of the rally were stuck in traffic. With the vehicles transporting them to the venue not making any headway, they decided to walk towards the venue, abandoning the vehicles on the roadside, adding further to the chaos. Even those who made it to the venue contributed to the traffic pile-up, as the crowd spilled on to the roads surrounding the venue, leading to slow traffic.

Traffic police struggled to manage the situation and resorted to chasing the crowds away from the road to clear the way.