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IAF air show rehearsal: Road restrictions around Sukhna Lake throw traffic out of gear
Diversions, more private vehicles in absence of CTU buses bring Chandigarh’s major traffic lifeline Madhya Marg to a halt
As thousands were riveted by the dazzling rehearsal of IAF’s air show at Sukhna Lake on Thursday, several hundreds more were put to inconvenience due to road diversions in the lake’s periphery for major part of the day.
As part of their plan to provide smooth thoroughfare to CTU buses ferrying spectators between alighting/parking points and Sukhna Lake, the traffic police had announced in advance vehicular restrictions that will be in place on October 6, the rehearsal day, and October 8, when the final event is scheduled.
For the air show rehearsal – scheduled from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm – the traffic police closed eight roads leading to the venue from 11 am to 7 pm. These included Sector 1/3/4 Chowk (Old Barricade Chowk) to Sector 5-6/7-8 Chowk (Hira Singh Chowk) on Sarovar Path; Sector 3-4/9-10 Chowk (New Barricade Chowk) on Vigyan Path towards Hira Singh Chowk and St Kabir Singh light point towards Chandigarh Golf Club up to Hira Singh Chowk.
Even pedestrian movement was restricted from Old Barricade Chowk to Hira Singh Chowk.
Besides, vehicles moving between Manimajra and Panchkula via the IT Park road were also diverted to Madhya Marg, translating into chaos on the city’s major traffic lifeline and trapping commuters in serpentine queues of vehicles. Long traffic jams were also witnessed on the road between IT Park and Bapu Dham Colony.
A traffic police official, not willing to be named, said the bottlenecks were caused as priority was given to CTU buses ferrying spectators for the air show, adding that similar restrictions will be in place on October 8 as well, so commuters should plan their travel accordingly.
The official added that as majority of the CTU’s daily buses were diverted to the shuttle service, several regular bus passengers also switched to private vehicles and cabs for commute, leading to thicker traffic flow.
Shuttle service leaves CTU’s daily passengers high and dry
Meanwhile, with the CTU buses missing from their daily routes due to the shuttle service for the air show, several unwary daily passengers were left waiting cluelessly at the ISBTs in Sector 17 and 43, and bus stops around the tricity.
Pritpal Singh, a resident of Sector 68, Mohali, said, “I was to take my mother to PGIMER for her check-up. We kept waiting for the bus for two hours and eventually booked a cab to reach the hospital.”
A female student at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, not wishing to be named, said, “I have a pass as I take the CTU bus daily to travel between home and school. But there was no bus service on Thursday, so I had to go home by auto-rickshaw that cost me much more.”
CTU has diverted around 400 buses for the shuttle service, most of which ply around the tricity daily.
While the normal bus service will resume on Friday, the buses will remain off the roads again on Saturday (October 8) to provide shuttle service for the final event.
