Chennai: Traffic congestion on Monday mornings is a regular: however, due to the protest and road blocks, vehicle movement came to a standstill causing severe hardship to commuters and office-goers here.
Those using Sardar Patel Road, Anna Salai and Taluk Office Road near the Raj Bhavan were in for a hard time as traffic in the stretch came to a halt due to the protest led by MDMK demanding Governor Banwarilal Purohit issue orders to release the seven convicts in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
Several Opposition parties, including cadres of the DMK took part in the protest which stalled the movement of vehicles during morning peak hour.
DMK leaders T K S Elangovan, Sekar Babu and M Subramanian took part in the protest.
While, this protest led to the traffic pile up on one side, vehicles were stopped from proceeding on OMR as Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam took part in a hospital inauguration function. This led to traffic congestion at Adyar, Velacheri, Tiruvanmiyur and nearby areas.
Commuters were not happy with the government and Opposition parties.
“Both of them do not care about the problem a common man undergoes. The protest could have been held after peak hours. Similarly, the inauguration ceremony of the hospital could have been planned at a time which does not affect routine life. Since both events were planned, police personnel should have at least made adequate arrangements to ensure that commuters do not suffer,” said Kumaresan, a commuter.
Coming from Kodambakkam to Guindy via Mettupalayam in West Mambalam, which usually takes about 15-20 minutes for Meenakshi, today took one hour. She said she was sitting in the cab the whole while before reaching the Saidapet bridge. ‘My driver got information through this friend that the police had stopped traffic in Saidapet which he said led to the jam here,’ said the harassed office-goer.