Candidates' rallies throw Kolhapur traffic out of gear

Kolhapur: The major roads of the city witnessed traffic jams for about four hours in the morning on Monday as hordes of supporters of Lok Sabha candidates from across the district accompanied them during their nomination form filing process.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) nominee from Kolhapur Dhananjay Mahadik and Kalappaanna Awade, Congress candidate from Hatkanangale constituency, took out rallies from Gandhi Maidan to the collector's office via major traffic points of the city.
Dipak Jadhav, who visits the city regularly, said he felt the inconvenience while entering the city from Shiroli entrance. On any other day, it takes around 6-7 minutes to enter the city from the entrance. However, Jadhav was upset by the slow moving traffic. "It took me almost an hour to reach office as the traffic was clogged from the entrance to Kawala Naka. The traffic department did not provide us an alternative route for reaching the city safely and without any hassle," Jadhav said.
The traffic from Lisha Hotel Chowk to Kawala Naka on the stretch of the prime entrance was clogged as the supporters of Mahadik parked their vehicles outside his campaign office which is close to the main road.
Both Mahadik and Awade have their supporters from rural parts of the district. According to the traffic officials, almost 1,200 four-wheelers were parked along the procession stretch, as the parking space at Gandhi Maidan and collector's office was insufficient.
R R Patil, city traffic inspector, said, "We had informed both the candidates to take precautions to avoid traffic snarls in the city. We even deployed a van for making announcements and appeal to the supporters approaching the procession venue not to park their vehicles along the road side. However, our appeal fell on deaf ears. But we controlled the traffic flow in internal parts of the city by choking the arterial roads."
Santosh Atigre, a supporter of Awade from Ichalkaranji, said, "It is the duty of the civic administration and traffic department to provide sufficient space for parking. I also witness traffic jams during such processions. However, no remedies have been chalked out yet. Such traffic jams are headache for both the visitors like us and local residents."
Major roads which were completely clogged were Lisha Hotel Chowk to Kawala Naka, Dasara Chowk to Bindu Chowk, Nagala Park to Dasara Chowk and Mirajkar Tickti to Gandhi Maidan. The vehicular movement eased out around 2pm only after the candidates filed their nomination forms.