Traffic severely affects evening commuters  

HYDERABAD

Evening commuters in the city were severely affected on Tuesday with traffic on the arterial Punjagutta-Begumpet road moving at a snail’s pace, even coming to a complete halt at several places.

It was bumper-to-bumper traffic for more than an hour on the Punjagutta route for a stretch of about 3 km starting at around 7.30 p.m.

During the day, bylanes and alternative routes around important traffic junctions in the city such as Khairatabad, Himayatnagar, Nampally, Abids and Kothi witnessed severe congestion even as the Bharat Jodo Yatra moved as per schedule along the identified route.

Motorists unaware of the diversions were clearly caught in traffic jams in the narrower routes.

The Hyderabad Traffic Police earlier had issued an elaborate list of diversions for general motorists and the plying of RTC buses. On Tuesday, it was quick and timely in sending out alerts on social media platforms on the live traffic situation with regard to the yatra. Alerts included the location of the yatra, traffic halts, diversions, instructions on the routes to avoid, and immediate traffic release.

During the evening, the Necklace Rotary at the Indira Gandhi statue was jampacked with activists and audience as the Congress leaders delivered the yatra’s message. The various routes that connect the route were blocked for the meet, and traffic was diverted. However, the spillover situation was felt in the radial routes for more than an hour after the meeting concluded.

Jt. Commissioner of Police (Traffic) A.V. Ranganath and other senior officials inspected the routes at several places, took stock and instructed officials for traffic clearance.