Mysore/Mysuru: Following a series of traffic jams and roads clogged with vehicles in the Central Business District (CBD) during Dasara illumination, the City Police have imposed a ‘No Vehicle Zone’ around the Mysore Palace to facilitate visitors to enjoy Dasara illumination from 9 pm to 11 pm up to Oct. 4.
While illumination is a great hit among visitors, the common complaint from people is that they are forever-stuck in the slow-moving traffic for hours with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
On Sept. 10, Star of Mysore had published a report ‘City centre illumination: Police mulling banning vehicles during Dasara’ and the report said that vehicles will be banned around the Palace.
Accordingly, now the Police have issued a press release in this regard. People can now walk and enjoy the illumination instead of bringing all their vehicles on the roads, clogging the streets, City Police Commissioner Dr. Chandragupta told SOM last evening.
According to the Police Commissioner, the roads connecting Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Circle (Hardinge Circle) with Chamaraja Circle, Krishnaraja Circle, Maharaja Sanskrit Patashala Circle, Gun House Circle and back to Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Circle, around the Mysore Palace will be ‘No Vehicle Zone’ up to Ayudha Puja Day.
Earlier, the Police were planning to restrict vehicles in the entire CBD, allowing only city buses and ‘Ambaari bus service so that people could take the buses instead of cars but this was not practical. “People throng to the CBD to enjoy the illumination. As most come in private vehicles, vehicular traffic comes to a standstill and causes inconvenience to the people. Banning vehicles for certain hours in certain areas is the only solution,” Dr. Chandragupta said.
124-km road lit up: The illumination of the city undertaken by the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) was inaugurated by Energy Minister V. Sunil Kumar last evening at the ‘Green Pandal’ set up at Sayyaji Rao Road in the presence of Mysuru District Minister S.T. Somashekar and MLA L. Nagendra.
Over 124-km of the city has been lit up including 124 roads, 96 Circles, 28 illuminated models and figurines and welcome arches. Also, many private players have been involved in the illumination, spending about Rs. 4.81 crore and consuming about 1,31,805 units of power.
An illuminated replica of Central Vista (New Delhi) at Doddakere Maidan along with a 3D portrait of Puneeth Rajkumar, Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, Chamaraja Wadiyar and Jayachamaraja Wadiyar have been set up and video merging laser technology has been used.
The LIC Circle at Bannimantap has national symbols like National Animal, National Bird, National Emblem and National Flag. In addition, KR Circle, Chamaraja Wadiyar Circle and Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Circle have been illuminated tastefully.
This apart, all the city entry points, Hunsur side, KRS side, Bengaluru, Nanjangud, Mysore Airport side, Bannur and T. Narasipur have been illuminated with welcome arches.
The vehicular traffic on Ashoka Road from the Central Police Station and SBI upto the Gandhi Square should also be banned. Even during the non Dasara days the parking space is occupied 24X7 ONLY by the shop owners of Ashoka Road thereby denying the public any convenience of Parking Facility. This is in total contrast to the Ashoka Road stretch between St. Philomena’s Circle upto Central Police Station SBI intersection. Traffic cops impose strict fines if vehicles are parked on this stretch. Why this partisanship? Are few of the shop owners privileged than the others ?