Traffic in several areas in the city went haywire, as thousands of people undertook a pilgrimage by foot to Besant Nagar in view of annual flag hoisting ceremony at the Our Lady of Velankanni Church. The situation was compounded by a strike by a group close to the arterial Anna Salai. Motorists had harrowing time on arterial roads due to the chock-a-block traffic.
Though the Chennai City Traffic Police had announced certain traffic diversions for Adyar and the surrounding areas on Monday, other parts of the city were also affected.
It all began when pilgrims set out towards the church at noon so as to reach by 5.30 p.m. Chaos and confusion prevailed when the pilgrims started to walk on the roads. As thousands of pedestrians were out on the streets, the pavements were insufficient and many of them resorted to using the carriageway. The pilgrims proceeded from St. Thomas Mount, Pantheon road and other areas in north Chennai.
Soon, traffic on the arterial Anna Salai had slowed to a crawl.
The pilgrims included people from all religions. V.N. Selvakumaran of Saidapet said, “This is the 10th year I am undertaking this pilgrimage. Usually, the crowds are less dense, but this year, the number of people was unusually large.”
“We started around noon, and had to reach the church before the hoisting of the flag. Usually, this festival falls only on a weekend, but this year, it was on a working day,” said G. Joseph Mangal Raj.
Motorists taking the Adyar routes and beyond had a tough time in the evening. Some of them said that it took them more than an hour to go from Saidapet to Egmore. Traffic jams on Sardar Patel Road, Besant Avenue, Durgabai Desmukh Road, DGS Dinakaran Salai, C.P.Ramasamy Road and San Thome High Road threw life out of gear. School children and college students were stranded as Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses could not ply on time.
M. Rajendran, a medical representative said, “These kind of traffic snarls are a harrowing experience. Police personnel should have been present in large numbers on the roads to regulate the traffic, particularly since they knew a procession would take place. It took me one hour reach to reach Adyar from Saidapet.”
