Tollywood's tryst with traffic on New Year

Posing as traffic cops, director SS Rajamouli with wife Rama regulated the traffic snarls between 10:30 pm and 2 am at the Jubilee Hills Check-post, besides distributing ‘No drinking and driving’ pamphlets. They spent around four hours participating in the traffic regulation programme, which was initiated by the Vaada Foundation, an NGO. The couple also celebrated their new year with the city traffic police at the junction by cutting a cake. Given the hectic rush on account of the New Year, the Jubilee Hills check-post was congested with traffic coming to standstill for a couple of hours. “It’s a key principle to comply with traffic rules and regulations for smooth vehicle movement on the road. We participated in this traffic regulation programme to create awareness among the vehicle-riders about the risks of drunken driving,” Rajamouli told City Express. Traffic on New Year’s Eve: Traffic police officials confirmed that there were lesser cases booked under drunken-driving on December 31 night. In the Hyderabad-city limits, 19 cases were booked while 37 cases were registered in Cyberabad limits. After a three-day long initiative to counter drunken-driving during the New Year weekend from Friday to Sunday, approximately 100 cases were reported. As many as 35 traffic police check-posts were set up to monitor drunk- drivers. “In a quest to keep a tab on drunken-drivers across the city on the night of December 31, traffic police officials conducted a special one-hour drive between 10:30 and 11.30 pm through Secunderabad, Begumpet, Raj Bhavan road, Jubilee Hills and other places in the city,” said GVG Ashok Kumar, deputy commissioner of police, traffic said. “When the traffic police imposed traffic restrictions on various stretches and blocked all flyovers to prevent road accidents, traffic snarls took place. To divert the traffic movement and clear the existing snarls, our staff was able to participate in the drunken-drive for only a hour,” he added. Traffic came to standstill at Khairatabad junction, Jubilee Hills check-post, Banjara Hills, besides many places in Secunderabad, Necklace road, NTR Ghat road. In light of the recent accidents, the Outer Ring Road (ORR) was completely blocked. On Sunday, vehicles had a tough time as traffic snarls prevailed. Traffic police imposed restrictions on the upper Tank Bund-Children park and diverted them to the lower tank Bund.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com