Dehradun saw one of the worst on-the-road ordeal on Tuesday in the wake of the BJP national president Amit Shah’s arrival on a two-day trip. Things started since the morning as the party activists started swarming into the city in their hordes from across the state to welcome Shah at various crossings. The congestion continued till the time this story was being filed with the commuters facing the brunt of the high-profile visit. Worse, many of the ruling party activists were found riding two-wheelers without caring to wear the helmets.
Even the pillion riders did the same, making a mockery of the traffic rules. The traffic police chose to be mute spectators before the ruling party activists violating the traffic rules with impunity. Interestingly, the City Patrol Unit personnel who are meant to deal with such traffic rule violations with a heavy hand chose to connive with them, something that drew flak from the common people who had to put up with things helplessly. Among the most affected were the students and the office goers who remained stranded on the roads for hours on a sultry September day. Various roads between the airport and Rajpur road bore the brunt with traffic jams being witnessed in all locations. Amirsh Negi, a commuter, said that he faced traffic jams at Rispana during morning hours when he was taking his kids to their school on EC Road. “We wonder why the traffic police failed to keep things smooth for us despite their knowledge that such things would ensue during the high- profile visit. CPU personnel who penalise us so eagerly were invisible when traffic rules were being trashed by the arrogant party activists,” he rued. Sumitra Semwal, a rider stuck at Rispana, said that their destiny of suffering whenever VVIPs/VIPs arrive in the city is continuing despite the Prime Minister having vowed to end the VIP culture.