City life comes to a standstill as vehicles, party workers pour in to attend PM’s events

City life came to a standstill for around eight hours on Wednesday as a large number of vehicles carrying Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists and supporters poured into the city to participate in events attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The vehicles, including private buses and other carriers from the neighbouring districts, which came to the city carrying party workers from the morning hours, added to the traffic snarls. City buses and private vehicles were rerouted to manage the crowd that reached the city during peak traffic hours.

The extensive traffic curbs imposed by the police at key junctions from around 10 a.m. till afternoon to facilitate the movement of the prime ministerial convoy and public events added to the traffic congestion.

Interior roads too were chocked through the day as vehicles were diverted from arterial roads through them to facilitate the conduct of the events, which were held at the centrally-located Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium at Kaloor. Mr. Modi attended the government function to launch a host of programmes, besides the public meeting organised by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at adjacent venues set up on the campus of the stadium.

Long queue of vehicles could be seen along the Vyttila-Edappally stretch of the NH Bypass from around 11 a.m. and at all major junctions and traffic signals. Vehicular movement along the route linking Marine Drive and Jawaharlal Nehru stadium was restricted around noon, while the return convoy movement in the afternoon led to further curbs. Heavy movement of people from different parts of the State into and out of the stadium made vehicular movement further difficult even after the restrictions were lifted.

Restrictions in major corridors caused slow movement of vehicles on bypasses and adjoining roads.

The police had earlier advised residents, office-goers, and students to plan their travel in advance to avoid inconvenience during the high-security visit. “The restrictions and diversions were imposed only as per the plan announced in advance,” an officer with the traffic police said.