Bengaluru's infamous traffic congestion is not new to the citizens commuting to work and back on a daily basis. But on Wednesday evening, an unusual spike was witnessed in Bengaluru's Outer Ring Road, leading to a traffic deadlock from Marathalli to Sarjapur. Several techies have reported that they are stuck in traffic for more than 3 hours, with ambulances and school buses being caught up in the traffic pile-up.
Owing to this situation, the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) issued an advisory requesting companies on the ORR corridor to advise their employees to extend their exit time due to the gridlock.
"I had spent 4 hours on the road today to commute to and fro from office. Total km covered to and fro was just 20km. 20 km in 4 hours," wrote on user on X.
"Bengaluru being easy on its residents :) Successfully moved 300 mts in the last 30 mins," wrote another.
"Legit spent 5 hours on the road today to commute to and fro from office. God save us!" X user Shradha Maheshwari wrote.
"Absolutely horrendous traffic near Agara Lake - HSR layout. Took me 50 minutes to travel 1km and I'm still stuck on the flyover," Ashutosh Bagga, a techie, wrote on X.
"Bangalore traffic police people should be awarded for being the worst in the world. They are just good for collecting fines and harassing commuters and don't know ABC of managing traffic," another commuter rants.
What's the reason?
Joint commissioner of police (traffic) MN Anucheth, told Moneycontrol that many people returned to work after the September 27 bandh and that the roads are not able to handle the traffic.
"This is mainly due to the cascade effect of the September 27 bandh. Many people have returned to work, and roads are not able to handle this traffic, especially compounded by rains and poor road conditions, including potholes. It's because of extended holidays starting from September 28, during which a significant number of people, including techies, left their premises simultaneously." he said.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Deputy Commissioner of Police-West (Traffic) Kuldeep Kumar R Jain, instructed the IT companies located on the ORR to avoid further pile-up and wrote, "There is a huge traffic pile-up on ORR from Marathahalli to Sarjapur. Please instruct ITBT companies located on ORR not to rush out as there is a massive jam due to invariably high number of vehicles."
"Due to approaching weekend and yesterday bandh, had huge influx of vehicle and same is reflecting in evening traffic," Kuldeep Kumar R Jain told International Business Times.
