Vijayawada: The traffic restrictions for Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu's rally has put commuters to trouble on Saturday morning. Thousands of schoolchildren, self-help group women, ration dealers and health workers were mobilised to the national highway from Gannavaram to Prakasam barrage from 7.30 am to welcome the Vice-President and they had problem waiting for a long time. In the city, M.G Road, Old City, Benz Circle witnessed huge traffic jam creating trouble to aspirants appearing for Group-I examination.
This morning, the city police implemented traffic restrictions from as early as 6 am and citizens travelling towards Gannavaram, Eluru faced a lot of inconvenience. The city and non-stop RTC bus services in these routes were diverted and people had to wait for more than five hours at different stages for public transport. On this route, private vehicles were also stalled till 11 am. Those in emergency travelled through the Gudivada route to reach Gannavaram and had to travel double the distance, 30 km, instead of the usual 15 km.
Students of various corporate and government schools were mobilised to Gannavaram, Kesara-palli, Gudavalli and Nidamanuru and made to stand on either side of the road to welcome the guest. The students complained the organisers made them stand for three hours after which the rally commenced. In the city, traffic was delayed by more than five hours at all the junctions. "We are happy that a Telugu man has become the V-P but stalling traffic for hours is not acceptable," said Narasimha Rao, a commuter a private employee.
Drone falls on Convoy at V-p’s rally:
Tension prevailed for sometime at Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu’s welcome rally in the city on Saturday when a surveillance drone fell on the convoy. Vijayawada city police used most advanced drones and surveillance cameras to monitor security during the rally in which the Vice-President, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and others took part.
A drone camera, monitoring the procession, got stuck in the trees at N.T.R University Centre and the operator tried to move it with remote commands but he lost control and it fell near the convoy of the Vice-President. Security officials removed the drone from the place.
