Traffic was thrown out of gear in Dehradun following religious processions and protest rallies taken out by various organisations on Monday.
A string of unions and outfits like Uttarakhand Peyjal Technical Field Employee Union, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam Employee Union, Prantiya Rakshak Dal, Uttarakhand Officers Employee Union, Teacher Sangharsh Morcha and Uttarakhand Polytechnic Contract Teacher Union took out rallies that passed through several important crossings across the city, choking traffic movement in the process.
This aside, a religious procession known as Chelum taken out by the Shia sect of the minority community compounded the ordeal on the roads.
Despite police administration having drafted traffic plan for Chelum and other processions to be taken out in the city, things proved difficult for the commuters. Traffic got to a grinding halt on many roads while at others the vehicles moved at a snail’s pace. The roads that bore the maximum brunt were EC Road and roads in Dharmpur.
Kailash Joshi, resident of Defence Colony, said that traffic movement from Rispana Bridge to EC Road was irritatingly slow. “I got late for the office. It took me nearly an hour to reach my office on EC Road from Rispana Bridge,” he said.
Aman Semwal, resident of Rajpur Road, said that he had faced traffic snarl at Dilaram Chowk. “I went to Dalanwala to pick up my daughter from the school and got stuck in the jam. We reached home on Rajpur Road very late. The serious thing is that such rallies making the traffic crawl is becoming a daily feature of the city life. Some steps should be taken to free the commuters from the recurring problems,” he said.