Samantha's film shoot on flyover troubles commuters

With no responsible political executive in place, has it become a free for all on the streets of Hyderabad? A film shoot on the busy Chandrayangutta flyover for the last few days has left thousands of commuters hassled. With police providing ���active��� support to the filming of ���Kaththi���, road-users are seething with anger and want the drama on the roads to end immediately.But there is nobody to listen to them.
At 10 am on Wednesday, law and order and traffic police, along with a platoon of APSP police, blocked the flyover at both ends for regular traffic and diverted vehicles travelling on the Shamshabad���LB Nagar stretch through a narrow slip road next to the flyover.
After police started diverting the traffic, a Tamil movie unit, comprising top director AR Murugadoss, actors Vijay and Samantha, landed at the spot at 11 am. After making the arrangements, a song sequence involving the lead pair was shot. The shoot continued till 1 pm and, after the lunch break, resumed at 2 pm.
All through the shoot, traffic was chock-a-block at the Chandrayangutta X Roads because of the slow movement of vehicles. Due to the traffic diversion, people travelling between Falaknuma-Barkas and LB Nagar-Chandrayangutta���Shamshabad were the worst hit.
���We are sick of this daily tamasha. While constructing the flyover, there were frequent traffic problems, but we put up with everything presuming that once the flyover comes into existence, traffic troubles will be over. Now, police are creating problems by blocking the flyover for film shootings,��� Sk Tajuddin, who owns a welding shop at Barkas, told TOI. Film shoot: Ambulance stuck in traffic jam
���Since morning, the traffic situation at Chandrayangutta was chaotic, hitting small businesses like mine,��� he complained. It was not just businessmen. People from all walks of life, including students and office-goers, were affected by the Hyderabad police���s ���decision��� to block a flyover for a film shoot. Tariq Ahmed, who runs a grocery store at Hashimabad, said that since the movie shoot he had to spend an extra hour to reach his shop.
���As the main road is choked with heavy vehicles, I have been travelling all the way till Bandlaguda, which is 4-5 kilometres ahead through small lanes and then reach my shop. This is avoidable nuisance imposed on us by police,��� Tariq added.
According to Abdul Rahim Bavazir, a realtor from Barkas, an ambulance moving from Katedan to Falaknuma was stuck in traffic at Chandrayangutta for 20 minutes on Wednesday morning. ���This morning, locals of Chandrayangutta, Barkas and Hashimabad tried to approach the film unit to ask them to stop shooting on the flyover and go to some studio. However, police did not allow them to approach the film crew,��� Bavazir said.
When contacted, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Charminar traffic, G Anjaneyulu said the film crew was permitted to shoot on the Chandrayangutta flyover between March 22 and 28 by the Hyderabad police commissioner. The ACP said the shoot would be wrapped up in two days.
Despite repeated attempts, Hyderabad police commissioner Anurag Sharma was not available for a comment. However, DCP, South Zone, Sarvshresth Tripathy said he had granted permission for the film shoot. But police insiders say that the traffic police had given the permission on oral instructions from the commissioner. Moreover, the written orders were issued by traffic police only two days after the shooting had started.