People coming out in the city after three days of public holidays, protests by various associations, ongoing admission process in various degree colleges and devotees visiting temples on the first Monday of Shrawan caused traffic congestion on various routes in the city.
Several organisations like Beghar Andolan Samiti,Anganwari workers, political parities like CPI and CPI(M) and others carried out protest rallies in the city, leading to traffic come to a standstill on various important intersections in the state capital.
The protesters assembled at Parade Ground and carried out rallies in support of their pending demands. Police were witnessed following the rallies to keep order. However, they failed to resolve the traffic jams to the inconvenience to the people. Senior police and administrative officers were also stuck in traffic jams that in many cases dragged for over an hour.
The people’s presence was more than the normal days as they moved out to buy the necessities after three days of public holidays. Doon Hospital was also crowded with patients. Colleges were over-brimming with students with the admission process being under process in various degree colleges in the city.
At another remove, a large number of devotees thronged the temples since morning to offer prayer on the first Monday of Shrawan. Temples at Tapkeshwar and other Shiv temples were full of devotes who offered prayer.
Road users faced huge traffic congestion especially after school hours were over around noon. Vehicles moved at a snail’s pace and the public transports took over an hour more to reach their destinations. Vehicles were found stuck up at Survey Chowk, Dilaram Chowk, Doon Hospital, Darshan lal Chowk, Prince Chowk, Bindal, Clock Tower, Rispana, Balliwala, Ballupur, Saharanpur Chowk and other places. Policemen acted as disinterested spectators, the annoyed people said. The traffic police seemed to have been caught unaware with the snarl causing traffic to crawl, they said.