There was jam-packed traffic across prominent locations in Mumbai on Friday. Given the Navratri festival, a huge number of devotees reportedly visited the Mahalaxmi Temple, which in turn, disrupted the traffic movement across the connecting routes.
The Mumbai Traffic Police tweeted, “South-bound and north-bound vehicular movement is slow at Mahalaxmi Temple due to devotee pedestrians.”
According to a local traffic police official, several vendors in the area had gathered to sell items like flowers, garlands, idols, etc, which slowed down the traffic movement at first. “Devotees were high in numbers on Friday and it will remain this way for the coming days due to the festival. The official added that traffic personnel have been deployed for additional management to maintain the flow of traffic.
Given the Mahalaxmi traffic, the connecting routes like Peddar Road and the Haji Ali junction were highly affected. Commuters who traveled via these areas reported being stuck in jams for over 25-30 minutes. “There was a backlog of traffic from all ends at Haji Ali junction. Since it's a four-way traffic flow, the rush hours experienced slow movement. We, however, managed the flow as our personnel was present on the ground,” said an official from the Tardeo Traffic Division.
The Haji Ali junction is now managed using a manual traffic method. The Free Press Journal had earlier reported how the traffic police are managing the traffic flow in order to deal with traffic congestion by using blinkers that are manned by traffic personnel instead of the usual automatic traffic signal system.
Meanwhile, the Airport Road and the Marol area in Andheri witnessed traffic blockage due to illegal parking and faulty traffic signals. Commuters tweeted to the Mumbai Traffic Police raising complaints. Rajeev Ganguly, a regular commuter and a resident of Vakola told this newspaper that the signals were not functioning on Friday afternoon. “Since there were no traffic indications or any traffic personnel, people were driving without any discipline. This was happening right below the Airport Road Metro station. I tried contacting traffic control after being stuck for 25 minutes, but there was no respite. Some good Samaritans took up the task and handled the situation,” he said.
Traffic notification for Devi idols on immersion days
The Mumbai Traffic Police has issued a notification pertaining to Devi immersions in Mumbai area that will begin on October 5. From 8 am on October 5 to 7 am on October 6, entry of all heavy vehicles on the roads in Greater Mumbai will be prohibited. Essential vehicles, including vehicles carrying vegetables, milk, bread and bakery products, tankers carrying drinking water (except other water supplying tankers), petrol / diesel and kerosene have been exempted. Ambulances, government and semi-government vehicles, school buses and vehicles carrying people for Dussehra Melava have also been allowed.
