T protests: Hell with traffic Jams

With the siren on, one of the staff members of the private hospital's ambulance in which a nine month old pregnant woman was being rushed to a hospital, clogged in the traffic in front of Lumbini Park. The person in the ambulance made repeated announcements requesting the motorists to make way for them to move ahead. But due to the heavy traffic jam, not a single vehicle could move and the ambulance got stranded there for full 45 minutes.

Similar scenes were witnessed across the city which witnessed heavy traffic jams at almost all junctions in the twin cities due to the pro-Telangana protests as angry motorists were seen picking up arguments with the police -- all under the hot sun.

As a heavy security blanket was thrown across the AP State Legislative Assembly in view of the 'Chalo Assembly' programme by students, all roads leaving to the Assembly were barricaded and concertina wires laid down at several points. Due to the restriction on movement of vehicles, the entire city was caught in chaos.

Vehicle movement came to standstill at all points surrounding the AP Legislative Assembly.  The stretches from Khairatabad Junction to Prasad Imax , NTR Ghat to Secretariat, Lakdikapul to Secretariat, Basheerbag to GHMC office and there was massive congestion prevailed at the major junctions such as Ambedkar Junction at Basheerbagh, Himayatnagar Cross roads, Tank Band, Telugutalli  and Basheerbag fly overs.

Para-Medical staff of the private ambulance C Shanker told Expresso that they started from Mehdipatnam after picking up a pregnant woman who had to be rushed to their private hospital in Secunderabad.

``We took a diversion from the stretch of Lakdikapul- Khairatabad as the road was clogged with vehicles and they were stuck at the Tele-phone Bhavan as a number of vehicles lined up one after the other right from Secretariat including the Telugu Talli fly-over. Even as we requested the police, they refused to allow us,'' he replied. After spending a few minutes in the traffic jam, the ambulance drove towards Mint Compound to Secunderabad.

For the motorists, it was a tough time. They were caught in jams for hours together and most switched off their engines and tried to wait patiently. But soon patience ran out and they began picking up heated arguments with the policemen.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com