Despite prior planning and arrangements for Durga processions and Dussehra festival on Friday, heavy traffic snarls were witnessed at several places on Friday afternoon. The similar situation is likely to continue till Saturday evening.
The worst hit parts were the areas of the old city which witnessed the passing of procession. The new parts of the city also faced traffic jams for few minutes. Moreover, the procession taken out by RSS volunteers at different parts of the city also disrupted smooth flow of traffic. Vehicles were left stranded searching for alternate roads and waiting for smooth traffic flow.
Traffic was badly hit as the junctions through which the procession passed. The new city areas were bit relieved as the procession path of the new city area and the old city area idols is different. Areas which were having Durga idols in big numbers witnessed traffic jams blocking both sides of the roads for hours.
Superintendent of Police Bhopal (North) Arvind Saxena said that for maintaining law and order around 2,500 personnel of district police, SAF, RAF, Nagar Raksha Samiti were deployed to manage the procession. He said around 100 sensitive points were monitored and extra police force was deployed to avert untoward incident. At the culmination and start point senior police officers were deployed.
The Durga idols from across the city gathered at Bharat talkies square. The first group of the procession followed path Central library, Itwara,Mangalwara, Jumerati gate, Janakpuri, Sindhi market , Peergate, Moti Masjid, Rethghat, Ginnori, Kamla Park, Kilol Park and would culminate at Rani Kamlapati Ghat.
The second group followed path Talaiya police station trisection, police headquarters, police control room, Roshanpura, Rangmahal talkies square, Jawahar square, city depot square and Prempura ghat.