Jana Raksha Yatra leaves city traffic in a tizzy

KOCHI: Traffic snarls were the order of the day as the Jana Raksha Yatra led by BJP state chief Kummanam Rajasekharan entered the city on Wednesday evening. Employees and students returning to their houses, and other commuters, had a harrowing time as they got stuck in rush hour traffic heightened by the rally. Banerjee Road and adjoining roads, in particular, witnessed heavy congestion. Traffic diversions were in place on several routes, with commuters finding it difficult to negotiate the North Railway Overbridge, Menaka Junction and other arterial roads too. Earlier, BJP leaders accorded a reception to the rally which entered Ernakulam district at Angamaly. It proceeded to the city via the Edappally-Palarivattom route by 4 pm.

The Palarivattom area almost came to a standstill for about an hour and vehicles were diverted in other directions to ease the traffic. The city traffic police officers had a tough time managing the situation. Vehicles moving to the city centre from Edappally were diverted to the Palarivattom side and vehicles plying to Kaloor were asked to take the Thammanam route.

Many had to wait for more than an hour at Menaka Junction for buses as line buses were diverted following the traffic restriction."We had to depend on autorickshaws to reach home as no buses were available," said a woman.Traffic Police (East) CI Bijoy Chandran said a slight confusion occurred at the Palarivattom Junction but necessary steps were taken to ease the traffic congestion. Hundreds of workers accompanied the yatra from Angamaly. The rally concluded at Rajendra Maidan where a public meeting was addressed by BJP national leaders.