Vehicles make way for Vailankanni devotees on arterial roads in city

As witnessed in the last few years, lakhs of devotees from the city and neighbouring areas converged on city roads from early morning. While special buses and vans were organised, most devotees undertook a padayatra through arterial roads. Traffic was affected on key stretches like Sardar Patel Road, Gandhi Mandapam Road and TTK Road. 

Working professionals, children heading to tuition classes and visitors were stranded. S Anand (64) and his wife Shobhana, who had driven down to Chennai for a visa interview at an embassy, caught in the chaos,said “The sight of so many people on the roads is something I have never seen before. We would have covered the one and half kilometre distance in 15 minutes, during peak hours, but it took us one-and-a-half hours on Monday.”

T Ramaswamy, whose office is in Adyar, was stranded while returning home. “I stopped my car at a shop near Madaveli and walked 3 kms home to Alwarpet. I will have to return around midnight to get my car back,” he said.