Thanks to Narendra Modi's fast, Ahmedabad's traffic goes haywire

Traffic management on the city's roads went for a toss on Monday, as most of the traffic cops were busy looking after traffic near the GMDC ground. Throughout the day, almost all the major traffic junctions were abandoned by the cops, making it difficult for commuters to even cross the roads. They were seen jockeying for places at the crossroads, as there was no traffic cop to halt or manage them.

After the announcement of the Sadbhavna Mission by the CM, the traffic department chalked out an elaborate plan to manage the expected heavy traffic rush near the GMDC ground. To implement the plan, the traffic department deployed more than 200 of their policemen near Helmet Circle and other points leading to the venue, i.e. Vastrapur, IIM, Gurukul, Shivranjani, Thaltej and Vijay cross roads. But, in their bid to manage the influx of traffic near the fast venue, other junctions were deserted by the policemen throughout the day.

These junctions include Shyamal cross roads, Nehrunagar BRTS route, Parimal garden, Law Garden, Swastik cross roads, Navrangpura, CG Road and Mithakhali cross roads. All these points are major traffic junctions with heavy commuter movement. Since there were no traffic cops on these junctions on Monday, commuters either skipped the traffic lights or found themselves stuck at a junction which didn't have traffic lights. Many commuters had minor scuffles with each other.

A regular commuter on this route, Shreyas Prajapati said, "It's really an unbelievable sight ….there is no one to stop the violators… Cops are always seen at Mithakhali and CG Road junctions, but this time they all are gone!"

Many commuters also complained of chaos due to the absence of traffic cops.