The airport authorities had to warn travellers to leave their homes well in advance or risk missing flights due to the heavy traffic on Christmas Eve and during the mall’s recent inauguration.
Although representatives of the retail centre claimed to have taken action to manage the holiday influx, the regular occurrence of traffic jams raised concerns about the effectiveness of such measures in this specific instance as well as the traffic police’s handling of similar circumstances.
Source: Mint
For example, thousands of cars were stuck in an extraordinary traffic bottleneck on the Outer Ring Road in September for several hours. The massive number of cars was later explained away as a result of individuals rushing to leave the city for the holiday weekend. But in both instances, the traffic cops were unable to foresee the approaching rush and took preventative action.
Now that similar traffic is predicted for New Year’s Eve, the police should make sure that sufficient measures are implemented right away throughout the city at all ports of entry and departure, not simply in the central business district as is customary.
Large-scale event planners should contribute by arranging buses from the closest metro stations to the venue and urging attendees to take public transportation, as the Bengaluru Literary Festival organisers did in early December.
Source: Deccan Herald
Malls anticipating large crowds should request prior measures and acquire a no-objection certificate from the police, as stated by Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) MN Anucheth. Over two lakh people attended the Kambala festival, which took place over the course of a weekend in November at the Bengaluru Palace Grounds. However, traffic was controlled and sufficient parking was available, so there was no traffic jam. He noted that the Byatarayanapura mall only had 3,200 parking spaces available, compared to the necessary 10,000.
This is a significant charge, coming from a top police officer. If the mall does, in fact, violate the byelaws, corrective action against the offending officers and efforts to undo the infringement must be implemented. Additionally, the government needs to review the building bylaws and close any gaps. Any permission for a large structure should require the approval of the traffic police in addition to other compliances. Although these are long-term solutions to be adopted together with bettering public transportation, the traffic police have an urgent task on Sunday. It’s unclear how they will defend themselves.
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