Traffic crawled throughout the day on Friday because of the heavy entry of vehicles of BJP workers from different districts into the capital city for the Janjagaran Mahasamavesh addressed by saffron party national president Amit Shah.
Rallyists choked roads in the vicinity of the Baramunda ground. This made it tough for policemen to facilitate the movement of vehicles. Major bottlenecks were witnessed at Baramunda, the National Highway-16 from Khadnagiri to Jaydev Vihar, Fire Station, CRP Square and other parts of the city from 10 am to 4 pm.
Throughout the rally hour, traffic at all these major junctions came to a standstill. Since morning, rallyists came marching to the ground from across the 15 districts.
Despite the police arrangements, many commuters passing the NH-16 and adjacent thoroughfares of the venue complained of traffic congestion due to the mega rally.
“Most rallies were originating from the different part of the city and were blocking the roads. Besides, a large number of people passed through the lanes and by-lanes leading to the venue creating problems for the vehicles and commuter,” said one Naresh Sahu, a commuter.
The road along the NH near the ground was also overcrowded with vendors setting up shops.
Though the police had made parking arrangements for vehicles at different places far away from the ground, many cars violated the order and created traffic jam in the area.
“It was tough for us to go out of our houses as many vehicles were parked in these constricted lanes,” rued Swagatika Sahu, a resident of Baramunda.
The crowd at the BJP meet not only consisted of party activists but also people who used this opportunity as a chance to visit the capital city.