Chennai: Chennai was hit by heavy traffic at several major areas as people returned to the city after celebrating Deepavali in their native towns. Sources said over 10 lakh people had commuted from Chennai to various parts of the State between 2 and 5 November.
As residents started returning to the city from last evening, traffic jams affected GST Road – from Chengalpattu to Tambaram.
“Thousands of buses were on roads apart from cars and other vehicles. After seeing the huge pile of vehicles, I got down from the bus at Singaperumalkoil and boarded a train to reach Saidapet,” said B Kumar, who reached the city from Tiruvannamalai.
Though the city police had made elaborate arrangements in association with their counterparts in neighbouring Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts to ease congestion, traffic snarls prevailed.
Roads from Chennai to Perungalathur, Tiruvallur and Mamallapuram were bursting with heavy traffic.
Officials said traffic congestion occurred due to the return of Chennaiites from their hometowns especially during hours when office, school and college-goers commute. Information revealed that vehicles were jam-packed for over 3 km in those regions.
“There was no traffic near Perungalathur last evening,” said Santhosh, a resident. “But, this morning, it was heavier than usual,” he added.
Earlier today, CMBT at Koyambedu witnessed an unusually large number of passengers. More buses that usual were seen plying carrying several thousand commuters. For Deepavali, the Koyambedu terminus was reported to have transported over 4 lakh commuters in more than 7,197 buses.
Similarly, from the Poonamallee bus terminus, over 2,778 buses were operated while 1,118 buses plied from the K K Nagar bus terminus.
Sources from the State Transport Department said about 11,500 buses will be operated to Chennai from across the State for four days.
“Compared to last year, we saw an increase of over 1.84 lakh commuters,” said a transport official. “This is the first time over 7 lakh passengers have travelled by government buses.”