Mangaluru: Over 300 passengers were waiting to return home by buses after the day’s hard work, but they were stuck in the traffic for 2 to 3 hours at the Karavali circle next to Bendurwell here on April 23.
Mangalorean.com correspondent received a call at 8.37 PM, from a volunteer, saying that many people including women and children were stranded at the Karavali junction without buses to go home. Immediately at 8:40 pm our team reached the spot and informed the concerned authorities to arrange for additional buses.
Speaking to mangalorean.com, Tara who works in a pharmacy said, “I have been waiting here since 6:30 pm to go to Asaigoli but there is no bus to go available. I have small kids at home”.
Another passenger from Innoli said that he had been waiting from 6:00 pm to go home. It was raining and he found it very difficult to stand on the footpath to wait for the bus.
Another passenger said, “Even the auto drivers are not ready to take us to Derlakatte. We thought of sharing the fare and travelling by auto but no driver was ready to take us. Some women and girls were waiting for buses to go to their homes in Kuttar, Derlakatte, Konaje, Talapady and Kasargod.
Our correspondent called up city south MLA J R Lobo and informed him about the situation that people faced without buses to take them home. He assured of some arrangements. He also called the ACP traffic and instructed him to clear the traffic jam on the bridge as soon as possible.
Now the Uroos is going on at Ullal dargah, which is being attended by thousands of people, arriving from different places. This had added to the increase in the movement of vehicles. Besides, the old Netravati bridge is being repaired and restored.
To make things worse, the police held a route march and security checks in view of the chief minister’s proposed visit to the dargah, a temple and St Joseph Vaz shrine in nearby Mudipu on Friday, April 24. The highway widening work at Thokkottu and upgradation work on Mudipu road have been causing inconvenience to commuters.
In all this mess, the understaffed traffic police, for no fault of theirs, are bearing the brunt and also getting the blame for anything going wrong. Lack of road etiquette and civic sense on the part of some motorists and bike-riders by sneaking into any gap in the traffic possible could be an important factor contributing to the chaos.
I was struck in yday’s traffic on Netravati bridge and I could hardly see police manning any points.. There were no attempts by police to resolve the traffic mess.. How could they explain the jam for over three hours? Traffic did not move coming from the city even an inch for nearly 2 hours!! Police need proper traffic management training.. Despite work going on, and traffic jam becoming a routine problem no police patrolling is seen on this stretch and the area is pitched dark. At least some lights should be put up at some diversion junctions.. I agree that… Read more »