Bengaluru on Wednesday witnessed a massive traffic jams ahead of a long weekend and bandh called by farm bodies against the release of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu. This had created long vehicle queues and causing inconvenience for the commuters for several hours.
According to police, the traffic flow suddenly increased between 5 pm and 8 pm as many office-goers started returning home.
Many people are heading out of the city due to a long five-day weekend starting from today. Eid Milad-Un Nabi, which is a gazetted holiday, will be celebrated today. Tomorrow, on September 29, the city will be shut as protestors called for Karnataka bandh over Cauvery water dispute followed by Saturday and Sunday. On October 2, marking Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, is also a national holiday.
Joint Commissioner Traffic Police Bangaloru said in statement that there was unprecedented traffic on Wednesday evening on outer ring road (ORR) and surrounding areas.
According to the traffic police department, multiple factors caused the traffic congestion in parts of the city. The traffic on Wednesday was twice more than on a normal day. Usually, the vehicle count on Wednesdays is 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh. However, on September 27, the vehicular count reached a whopping 3.5 lakh as of 7:30 pm.
In addition, rains have also caused waterlogging at several interior roads, causing massive jams in several parts of the city.
