Chennai: Chennai city was hit by massive traffic snarls in several major areas as people headed out of the city on Friday to celebrate Deepavali in their native towns.
The Tamilnadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), State Express Transport Corporation ( SETC) and private operators, operate buses from Chennai to various destinations. To reduce traffic in the city and outer ring roads, Chennai traffic police has been operating services from six terminuses in the city like the CMBT, Madhavaram bus terminus, Poonamallee bus stand, Tambaram Sanatorium bus stand, Tambaram railway station bus stand and KK Nagar bus depot.
From Tambaram Sanatorium bus stand, buses will run to Tindivanam , Pattukottai, Mannarkudi, Kumbakonam, Thanjavur and beyond. From the Tambaram railway station bus stand, buses will ply to Tiruvannamalai, Vandavaasi, Cuddalore , Puducherry and Chidambaram.
Though officials had made arrangements to manage the crowd, traffic was exceptionally heavy in Tambaram and Perungalathur on Friday, leading to traffic snarls on almost all major roads.
Busses from state-owned transport corporations, omni-buses and other regular vehicles piled up on the Tambaram - Perungalathur road causing massive traffic congestion.
Traffic cops advised people travelling by cars and other vehicles to take the Southern Trunk road, to take the ECR/OMR to reach Chengalpattu through Thirukazhukundram, and then head south.
Passengers faced hardship waiting in Perungalathur to board busses to their native. One of the passengers said, "The entire stretch from Peerkankaranai Erikarai to Perungalathur Sri Ram IT Gateway lacked basic facilities like waiting room, restroom and drinking water. Even on a normal day, traffic would be heavy on the Perungalathur road, and due to the festival rush, with people heading to their native places in the south, things became worse. Though traffic police were present at Perungalathur and other spots, they could do little to manage the large number of vehicles piling up."
Police sources said that additional forces were deployed on several important roads and they did their best to ease traffic difficulties. But still, traffic jams couldn't be avoided.
