‘Action’ on road leads to traffic chaos

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Motorists who are regulars on city roads expect some traffic chaos during the rush hour on weekdays. However, they were caught totally unawares in a traffic diversion at Palayam on Tuesday. Thanks to a film shooting, a busy road stretch in Palayam was closed for nearly 10 hours on Tuesday leading to confusion and inconvenience to commuters.
The traffic along flyover from Chandrasekharan Nair stadium to PMG Jn was cordoned off without any notice from around 6 am. Restrictions on the road continued till 4 pm.

Sources said the production company has sought permission for shooting on the same stretch on Wednesday also – from 6am to 9am.

The traffic was restricted for the shooting of a Mohanlal-starrer, directed by Prithviraj.

The police diverted heavy vehicles to avoid traffic chaos at Palayam. As both ends of the flyover were blocked, vehicles were asked to take the main route through the MG Road.

Heavy vehicles which came through the Bakery Jn flyover were diverted by the police to MG Road at Panchapura junction, while those vehicles which came from Pattoor were directed to take the single lane road sandwiched between Chandrasekharan Nair stadium and the underpass to reach MG Road.

Traffic police personnel on duty said they got the directive to divert traffic till evening. Meanwhile, a traffic official said on condition of anonymity that if the film crew insisted on shooting on a city road, it should have been allowed on a Sunday. “This route is being taken by vehicles to places such as medical college. It has created an unnecessary confusion and traffic block,” he said.

Though police would usually give prior information about traffic diversion, there was no notice issued to media on Monday and the motorists had no clue about traffic diversion.

When contacted, Antony Perumbavoor of Ashirvad Cinema, who is the producer of the film, said that they had to shoot a scene on the city road and secured the required permission from the commissioner of police. “If there is any disruption to the shoot, it will have to be postponed for another day. That will create much inconvenience,” he said. However, the director of the movie Prithviraj refused to comment.

City police commissioner P Prakash said that the shooting was allowed only on a service road and enough measures were taken to avoid traffic chaos. “There were requests to allow shooting on the stretch. So, we finally allotted a day when there was no protest march in the city. We have taken enough measures to prevent any traffic issues due to this,” he said.

In the past, permissions to shoot on public roads by blocking traffic were given only on Sundays and public holidays. Police officials didn’t give a clear reply when asked why a Sunday or holiday was not allotted for shooting.