Bengaluru: A day after Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwar defended traffic curbs for VIP movement and got trolled on the social media, the city traffic on Thursday evening was thrown out of gear due to Chief Minister’s motorcade.
The VIP movement has become a bane for Bengaluru residents as they have to wait for long durations to ensure ‘zero traffic’ for their netas and other VIPs.
Chief Minister’s motorcade affected traffic flow in the eastern and central parts of the city. The worst affected areas were HAL, Old Airport Road, Lower Agram and Richmond Road.
According to an official, “The traffic was stopped due to the Chief Minister’s movement from HAL Airport to J.P. Nagar, his home. The traffic was halted from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm.”
This had a cascading effect on the adjoining roads from HAL Airport to J.P. Nagar and left the commuters fuming.
A harried motorist, Rahul Jain, a bank employee, said that the traffic in the city is already bad and VIP movement adds to our misery. “The government is not doing anything to solve traffic problem and they expect us to suffer during such VIP movements, while they have hassle free rides,” he said.
For Soumya, a final year student, said the ministers should get a taste of traffic gridlocks in the city. “I take this route on a daily basis and I need at least 30 minutes to cross this area. With this rainy weather and the VIP movement, it is very annoying to wait for hours while these ministers get to enjoy smooth drive.”
It may be recalled that former home minister Ramalinga Reddy had refused to use this privilege while in office.
