Protests, match and festivals bring Bengaluru traffic to a standstill

A mix of protests, sporting events and festivals paralysed Bengaluru, as the city was gridlocked on Saturday. Several key stretches, including J.C. Road, M.G. Road, Hosur Road and Tumakuru Road, were choked with outstation buses trying to leave the city.

On Saturday evening, several roads in Central Bengaluru were congested. The police had made barricading arrangements around M. Chinnaswamy Stadium for the India-West Indies match. This, coupled with rain, slowed traffic across the Central Bengaluru District. Parking restrictions further worsened the situation. Traffic gridlock in the Central Business District (CBD) continued even till almost midnight as the match was called off due to rain and spectators started leaving the stadium.

Around Nrupathunga Road, traffic was affected by Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s visit to the Director General of Police headquarters. Further, the police had made arrangements around J.C. Road, as the All India Students Association (AISA) had called for a protest near Town Hall. The barricades and arrangements for buses added to the congestion.

Outstation buses

Meanwhile, Tumakuru Road near Goraguntepalya was gridlocked, with inter-district buses lining up. Long queues of traffic were also reported near the exit point at Majestic.

Keerthana M., a Koramangala resident who was travelling to her hometown of Hassan, said the bus she was travelling in was stuck within the city for almost two hours, and the journey to her district took six hours. “I took the bus around 3 p.m., thinking I would get out in the evening traffic but couldn’t escape,” she said.

In the southern part of the city, commuters heading towards Chandapura were stuck in gridlock for more than three hours. Several took to social media to share their ordeal. However, many commuters claimed that travel on Friday night had been worse, with some taking over six hours to cross the city limits.

An X user wrote that it took four hours to cover the stretch from Silk Board to Attibele on Friday night. Traffic on Mysuru Road also crawled, with several car users taking to the road on Saturday.

Railway stations

City railway stations also witnessed an unusually large number of passengers. Manjunath, who boarded a train at SMVT station, said the entire station was a nightmare.

“The situation was really bad, with all passengers pushing each other. It was a packed situation,” he said.