Citizens in Bengaluru were subjected to the infamous traffic jams of the city on Monday, June 13. Many people on their way to work were caught unawares on Monday morning as several arterial roads were choked. Many of the arterial roads were barricaded leading to massive traffic pile-ups on several roads including JC road, Kasturba road, MG road and other roads in Central Business District. The clogging of roads was the result of the visit of President Ram Nath Kovind coinciding with a protest staged by the Karnataka Congress. While the President is on a two-day visit to the city, the Congress staged protests against the Enforcement Directorate’s move to summon senior leader Rahul Gandhi over the National Herald case. Congress leaders had not sought permission from City police to stage the protest.
The President was received at the HAL airport by Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and other senior officials. On Monday afternoon, the President inaugurated the platinum jubilee celebrations of Rashtriya Military School, Bengaluru. On Tuesday, Kovind is scheduled to attend the ‘Lokarpana’ of ISKCON Sri Rajadhiraja Govinda Temple on Kanakapura Road.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders tried to lay siege to the Bengaluru office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday, following which the police took Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC President DK Shivakumar into custody. The party workers began the protest in front of the Lalbagh and took out a protest march till the ED office.
Citizens on social media expressed their frustration over the poor management of the heavy traffic. Taking to Twitter, Aarush, a law student asked, “What is the reason for the disgusting amount of traffic in Bangalore today?” Another person tweeted, “All of Bangalore's traffic police is on HAL road, someone is coming?”
What is the reason for the disgusting amount of traffic in Bangalore today?#Bengaluru
— Aarush Jhunjhunwala (@SirAarush) June 13, 2022
All of Bangalore's traffic police is on HAL road, someone is coming? #bangaloretraffic
— Anusha Rao (@ABeautifulDawn) June 13, 2022
A timelapse video posted by one Pranaya Mishra of Kasturba Road, showed how traffic remained immobile.
This is the timelapse of Bangalore traffic @ Kasturba road. @blr_traffic @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/Td4kXorpcm
— Pranaya Mishra (@pranaya_mishra) June 13, 2022
@DgpKarnataka @governmentofkar @BSBommai Sir, if Rahul Gandhi was called for an interrogation in Delhi, why did you give permission for a rally in #bangalore?!
— Brijesh (@thesaasoperator) June 13, 2022
Are you aware of the terrible traffic jams that are inconveniencing people here? It’s a mess out there!
Times Now reported that an ambulance with a patient inside was also stranded as a result of the traffic due to the Congress protest and took one hour to navigate through it. Speaking to TN, Bengaluru police commissioner CH Pratap Reddy said, “The Congress did not seek permission for the protest, and its workers have been taken into custody.”
Earlier this year, a report by TomTom Traffic Index, which detailed traffic trends in 404 cities, suggested that traffic congestion in Bengaluru went down by 32% in 2021, and attributed it to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Bengaluru still remains one of the most congested cities in the world. In 2019, Bengaluru had ranked sixth on the index.