Hyderabad: The TS electrical employees' 'Maha Dharna' at the Vidyut Soudha in Khairatabad, in the heart of the city, threw life into disarray. This was felt on all roads within a three-kilometre radius.
Commuters complained that no traffic law enforcement personnel were present during the entire dharna.
A sizeable police force was sent to deal with the sudden upsurge in protests on the Osmania University campus.
E. Udayasree, a resident of Sitaphalmandi, claimed that while on their way to Jubilee Hills, they were struck in the traffic jam even before could reach Khairatabad flyover. “We moved in the direction of Prasad's IMAX, but that was also blocked. We then came back and took a complete detour to Mehdipatnam to reach Jubilee Hills,” she said.
Rakesh Kumar, an autorickshaw driver said that he started from Mehdipatnam
to drop an elderly man at Secunderabad, but it took him more than nearly two hours to reach Nirankari Bhavan. “We had no clue what was happening on the road,” he stated.
Syed Akram, another commuter, claimed that he was caught in the traffic jam for more than 40 minutes. “I did not see any traffic police personnel from Masab Tank till Lakdikapul to man the traffic,” he said.
Meanwhile, traffic officials said the field staff along with senior officers were monitoring the situation and ensured that the traffic movement was restored. The traffic police, who are active on social media platforms, were seen posting only two updates on Twitter at 1.10 pm and 1.15 pm alerting commuters about the dharna and the traffic situation, after which no alerts were posted.
