Four-kilometre-long snarl brings city to standstill

MEERUT: The city witnessed a four-kilometre-long traffic jam as people in large numbers from as many as seven assembly constituencies in the region turned up to attend BSP's Bhaichara Sammelan held in Meerut on Friday. Commuters had a harrowing time as the city traffic came to a standstill. People attending the sammelan parked their vehicles on the roads leading to the venue.Over 1000 bullock carts also arrived in the city, creating much confusion and chaos on all routes leading to the venue, Ambedkar Degree College on Garh Road.
Due to lack of parking space, vehicles were parked haphazardly on roadsides, stretching up to two kilometres from the venue. Commuters remained stuck in traffic jams for up to more than an hour as BSP supporters arrived at the venue in buses, trucks and bullock carts.
Despite arrangements in place by Meerut traffic police, a four-km-long traffic jam was witnessed outside the venue. Talking to TOI, superintendent of police, traffic, Kiran Yadav, said, "We had all preparations in place to avoid traffic jams. Traffic police officials were deployed on all the routes from where BSP members were expected to arrive. However, a truck overturned on Hapur Adda and this led to the long traffic snarls."
Gaurav Sharma, a city resident, said, "Usually, it hardly takes 10 minutes for me to cross the Garh Road stretch on a normal day, but today, it took me over 40 minutes to cross the stretch. I understand that political parties are trying to influence the voters in the run-up to the assembly elections, but they should take into consideration the problems that people face."
"At least 10,000 people from as many as seven assembly constituencies reached Meerut for the Bhaichara Sammelan on Friday. The huge number of participants at the sammelan indicates the strength of BSP, and proves that our chances of winning in 2017 assembly elections are great," said Raviraj Singh, Meerut zonal coordinator of BSP.
Yogesh Verma, a candidate from Hastinapur Vidhan Sabha, said, "People from all the seven assembly constituencies in the region have turned up in large numbers for the Bhaichara Sammelan and have extended their support. The traffic jams on the roads are indication for BJP and SP that they don't have any chance of winning in the coming assembly elections."