Hyderabad: Vaikunta Ekadasi, which was celebrated on Monday, brought traffic to a standstill in different areas of the city. Junctions at Himayatnagar, Banjara Hills, Masab Tank and Lakdi-ka-Pul witnessed major jams. A pillar that fell on the road at Malakpet X roads also lead to congestion in Malakpet area.
Employees on their way to offices faced a troubled morning due to these jams. Traffic authorities, meanwhile said that such jams near temples could only be avoided with parking arrangements made by the temples. With only three working days this week, and Monday being the first day of the week, city roads were packed with devotees visiting the temples in addition to the regular users.
The Venkateshwara Swamy temple at Himayatnagar and the Pension Office junction in Banjara hills were the worst hit areas, with thousands of devotees visiting the temples. The jam at Himayatnagar extended up to Tank Bund, Abids, Barkatpura and in Banjara Hills, it extended up to the Lakdi-ka-Pul junction, Nagarjuna circle, Mehdipatnam and even till the KBR Park junction.
“We cannot deny entry to anyone on such occasions. As the temples are famous and located in bottleneck areas, it leads to traffic jams. Though the movement is very slow, we are trying to facilitate the traffic,” said Hyderabad Traffic II DCP A.V. Ranganath. Meanwhile, at Malakpet, a traffic jam was caused when a container truck rammed into a pillar set up before the railway under-bridge to block entry of over-height vehicles.
“The pillar was set up at a height of 5 meters. But the container was above that level. Not knowing about this, the driver rammed the truck into the pillar. We had to use gas cutters and cranes to clear the pillar,” Mr Ranganath added.
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
