While Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping for their two-day informal meeting at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Mamallapuram near Chennai, Chennai's residents witnessed severe traffic snarls and barricaded roads. On Friday and Saturday, the police maintained a strict vigil along the routes the Chinese Premier travelled.
According to reports, barricaded roadways resulted in greater footfall for the Chennai Metro Rail Limited, with ridership touching 1.37 lakh on Friday, higher than the regular weekday footfall of 1.10 to 1.15 lakh. The Chennai Airport station saw a surge, as close to 10,100 people used the Chennai Airport station, as against the usual ridership of 8,000, according to reports.
This resulted in long queues at the baggage scanning area, a CMRL official told the Hindu. Other metro stations that saw higher footfalls due to the traffic restrictions were the Thirumangalam Metro (10,400 against regular 8000) and LIC Metro (7,800 against the usual 2,000-2,500).
However, the situation on the roads was worse, with traffic being suspended on Anna Salai and OMR to facilitate Xi’s convoy plying from Guindy to Mamallapuram on both days of the meeting. Severe traffic snarls were experienced in Sholinganallur, Kotturpuram and Saidapet areas with at least 45-minute delays.
Anna Salai, Gandhi Mandapam Road and GST Road saw severe congestion as the movement of vehicles was stopped half an hour ahead of his departure on Saturday. Smaller traffic-hold ups were experienced in Thiruvanmiyur, Sholinganallur, Injambakkam, Kelambakkam and Perumbakkam junctions.
Although well-regulated traffic diversions were put in place, there were long traffic jams for at least half an hour on both Friday evening and during the first half of Saturday, inconveniencing most of the city’s residents. Services resumed soon after the leaders left the city around 3 pm on Saturday.