Traffic jams set to mar puja revelry

BHUBANESWAR : As the Durga Puja revelry begins, residents of the state capital are bracing up for traffic snarls, a usual phenomenon during the festive season.

Commuters are already experiencing traffic jams on most of the major routes like Cuttack-Puri Road, Kalpana, Rasulgarh, Vani Vihar, Saheed Nagar, Janpath, Acharya Vihar, Jaydev Vihar, Chandrasekharpur and others.

As major pandals including the ones at Baramunda, Nayapalli, Saheed Nagar, Rasulgarh and Bomikhal are located on the side of main roads, the traffic woes will only deteriorate in the coming days.

Alok Patra, a citizen, said, “It took me more than 30 minutes to reach Kalpana Square from Saheed Nagar via Satya Nagar on Monday afternoon. Usually, it takes less than 15 minutes to cover the same distance.” He alleged that there is no traffic management in the city with the cops hardly making any effort to address the issue, especially during the evenings.