When people were returning to Chennai after holidays, there was a traffic jam on GST Road

Chennai: There was a traffic jam on GST Road on Thursday as people returned to the city after Pongal holidays.

People who had gone with their families to their native places in the southern districts started returning to Chennai on Wednesday night after the Pongal holidays. As thousands of people were returning in their vehicles and government and private buses, traffic flow on the Trichy-Chennai National Highway was heavily affected. Junctions like Singaperumal Koil, Guduvancheri, Urapakkam, Kilambakkam, Vandalur, Perungalathur and Tambaram were heavily blocked.

Raja of Tambaram said, “I reached Chengalpattu at 11 pm on Wednesday night but it took me more than three hours to reach Tambaram which is just 30 kilometers away.”

Commuters said traffic in Tambaram and Perungalathur could have been manageable if police had diverted some vehicles to Vandalur-Minjoor Outer Ring Road and Singaperumal Koil-Oragadam Road. He claims that there were not enough policemen to control the traffic at the junction at night.

Railway passengers also had to face problems due to the absence of proper bus facilities in Tambaram. Commuters who reached Tambaram railway station from southern districts said they had to wait for a long time at the Tambaram bus stop for MTC buses. There were very few buses in the morning to areas like Thiruvanmayur, Pallikaranai, Medavakkam, Pammal, Anagaputhur, Kundrathur, Avadi and Mudichur.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, auto drivers started demanding double the fare from passengers. A passenger traveling from Tambaram railway station to Madambakkam said he was charged Rs 400 for only 5 km and auto drivers from Tambaram to Pammal were reportedly charging Rs 600. Passengers said the transport department should have run more buses in the morning as many people were returning after Pongal holidays.