Rush of faith clogs Kanpur roads

KANPUR: A large number of people thronged the temples to offer prayers to Lord Shiva on the occasion of Mahashivratri leading to long traffic jams on Tuesday. Areas close to Shiva temples in the city witnessed traffic problems.
Devotees remained stranded for nearly an hour on a bridge near the famous Nageshwar and Hanuman temples in Panki area. The bridge above the water canal in the area is quite narrow.With a large number of devotees visiting Nageshwar and Hanuman temples in the area resulted in traffic jam that lasted for nearly an hour.
"The high footfall in Nageshwar and Hanuman temples resulted in heavy traffic jam over the bridge in Panki. We were stuck there for more than an hour. The bridge is narrow and people from both the directions were trying to move forward, thereby blocking the passage. The pathetic condition of road added to the troubles.
There wasn't any traffic cop in the area, but thanks to the locals who managed to get the traffic cleared," said Rajini, a local at the spot.
Similar chaos was witnessed in Lal Bangla area when the Shiv Barat was taken out from there. People remained stuck in the traffic till the procession ended. Traffic rush was also witnessed outside Anandeshwar Temple in Parmat area. "The movement of traffic was very slow because of the long queues of devotees which stretched upto the main road. There were no traffic cops in eh area," another local lamented.
Temples including Kherepati Baba Mandir (Phool Bagh), Jageshwar Temple (Nawabganj), Omkareshwar, Nageshwar and Khereshwar also witnessed a heavy footfall, but the traffic situation was apparently under control at these places.
Vehicles parked in haphazard manner by the devotees created trouble for the commuters.
According to traffic inspector Mehmood Ali, traffic officials were deployed at every prominent Shiva temple of the city. "Traffic personnel were deployed in different shifts outside the city temples. A vigil outside the main temples was there to avoid traffic jams," he claimed.