The three-day Kadalekayi Parishe (groundnut fair), which will officially begin on Monday, drew thousands of people on Sunday to the Bull Temple Road. Amidst the festive-like atmosphere, traffic and crowd management turned chaotic, especially around the evening.
Even though the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) had issued traffic diversions and had three dedicated parking spaces for those who came to the fair, many complained that the space was not sufficient for all the visitors. As the day progressed, the roads around the central venue was clogged with traffic.
Veeresh Acharya, an attendee, said, “The traffic is tolerable for people visiting from other places as it takes place once in a year, but it creates an issue for the local residents as their daily routes are altered.”
“We have deployed enough policemen to handle the situation. We have also assigned two college grounds for parking facilities. Yet, since 5 to 6 lakh people arrive here for the parishe, it often gets difficult to accommodate so many vehicles,” said Shivaprakash Devaraju, DCP (Traffic), South Division.
Ahead of the inauguration of the fair, many visitors went to the parishe on the weekend to escape the crowd which is expected to double in the next two days. “I have been going to the parishe for almost two decades now. It seems like the crowd keeps getting bigger and bigger every year. It will be impossible to shop for groundnuts tomorrow without getting stamped or pushed. Hence I am here today,” said Bhavana. H., a resident of Hanumanthanagar.
Minister of Transport and Muzrai Ramalinga Reddy also paid a visit for an inspection of the preparations. “As I have to be in Belagavi for the legislative session, I inspected the arrangements today (Sunday) and also offered prayers at the temple,” he told The Hindu.
The Muzrai Department has also given a call to citizens to bring their own bags to the fair to avoid the usage of plastic under the “Parishege banni, kai cheela thanni” (come to parishe, bring your handbag) campaign.
