While addressing the police at the 60th Raising Day Parade celebration, Union home minister Amit Shah said that despite being the city with the highest number of vehicles per capita, on all his visits in the city with and without official protocol in place he has never seen a traffic jam in Chandigarh.
While his remarks were applauded, people outside the venue were stuck in traffic jams throughout the day. As Shah was set to come to Sector 26 from Panchkula, the traffic wasn’t as affected in the morning except for near Sector 26. However, as Shah had to move to a rally in Tiranga Park in Sector 17 in the afternoon and exit the city in the evening, jams continued throughout the city. This happened despite the event being held on a Sunday when most offices were closed.
The worst affected roads included Madhya Marg in the afternoon while in the evening, Dakshin Marg remained affected with people going to Zirakpur remaining affected.
Pankaj, a resident of Zirakpur who works in Sector 8 was going back home from work in the evening. However, it took him half an hour just to clear Tribune Chowk while the total journey went over an hour, almost double of his usual time. Manjit Singh who works in Sector 9 also remained stuck on Madhya Marg near Sector 7 for around half an hour just at one light point.
People also took to social media to air their complaints. A user shared a video claiming how traffic had not moved for over 30 minutes at the Timber Market junction near Sector 26. Another user, Piya alleged there was a traffic jam between Chandigarh and Zirakpur and she had been stuck for an hour. Another user Gurdeep Singh alleged that the Sector 20 roundabout had remained blocked for around half an hour. In the morning, a similar traffic jam was seen at the Housing Board lightpoint connecting Panchkula to Chandigarh.
{{/usCountry}}People also took to social media to air their complaints. A user shared a video claiming how traffic had not moved for over 30 minutes at the Timber Market junction near Sector 26. Another user, Piya alleged there was a traffic jam between Chandigarh and Zirakpur and she had been stuck for an hour. Another user Gurdeep Singh alleged that the Sector 20 roundabout had remained blocked for around half an hour. In the morning, a similar traffic jam was seen at the Housing Board lightpoint connecting Panchkula to Chandigarh.
{{/usCountry}}While the traffic police had released an advisory urging people to avoid different roads on Sunday, an official said that many traffic cops had also been deployed for VIP duty along the home minister’s route while these roads had to be diverted. The traffic officials including inspectors remained present on the ground throughout the day to help manage traffic.