Poll rally, IPL match recipe for jam

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, May 9

Two big events in Dharamsala — an IPL match between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore and an election rally of the Congress — today brought traffic to a halt on several roads in the town.

The rally, which was addressed by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and other leaders of the party, was organised in Zorawar stadium. The party leaders had brought in workers in a large number from across the district. An influx of Congress workers and IPL fans in large number gave a tough time to traffic police in managing traffic. People remained struck on roads leading to Zorawar stadium as vehicular movement was stopped intermittently by the police due to the VIP movement.

Karan Chaudhary, a resident of Dharamsala, said traffic on most roads in Dharamsala was restricted. “The people residing in areas around the international cricket stadium faced difficulty in reaching their houses due to restrictions in the evening. During the morning hours also, the police blocked roads to facilitate the movement of VIPs. People were stuck in traffic for about 30 minutes at places,” he said.

Besides the restrictions, roads dug up in various parts of the town added to the people’s troubles. On many roads, parking was restricted by the police due to which people going to market and their offices had to face problem. The parking at Mini-Secretariat was blocked by the administration as political leaders had to come there for filing of their election nomination papers.