Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Bengaluru throws traffic out of gear

School managements tense as exams are under way and students could not reach schools on time

Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Bengaluru threw movement of traffic out of gear in several parts despite the police putting restrictions in place to reduce disruption.

Commuters reported traffic jams on Mysuru Road and Kengeri as a large number of buses carrying participants for Mr. Shah’s programme started arriving in the morning on March 24. The police then started allowing the buses to pass through narrow residential roads, leading to chaos in those localities.

At Kommaghatta village on the outskirts of the city, where the Minister was scheduled to lay the foundation for Sahakara Samruddhi Soudha and participate in a convention of beneficiaries of various schemes, vehicular restrictions obstructed the movement of school buses and other vehicles, inconveniencing students heading for exams.

An administrator of a school in Kengeri Satellite Town said, “Due to the Union Minister’s programme, the police restricted vehicles on Kommaghatta Main Road. In the morning, school buses were late in reaching the school. We are conducting examinations for students, and they will end at 12.30 p.m. It is very difficult to send the students in school vans. From our school, we don’t have a proper alternative to drop students to their homes. Therefore, we are planning to inform parents to take their children home.”

A representative of another school management said, “We picked up students early today. But at noon, we don’t have other options, unless we use alternate routes.”

Bylanjanappa, Deputy Director Department of Public Instruction (DDPI)-South, said, “According to the rules, the closing time for schools is 3.30 p.m. The Union Home Minister’s programme will end before 3 p.m. In the meeting with the Deputy Commissioner (DC), he informed that in case the programme continues beyond the scheduled time, schools can keep the students until the programme ends. We have already informed all the schools about this.”

In other parts of the city, those dependent on State-run buses had a tough time.