Bhopal's main arteries clogged for BJP meet

Bhopal, Sep 22: Road traffic in the state capital went haywire today due diversions and blockades to facilitate the BJP's public meeting at the police parade ground coinciding with the party's three-day national executive meeting currently in progress.

The city's main arteries were clogged with several hundred vehicles carrying workers for the public meeting arrived from different parts of the BJP-ruled state.

While tight security arrangements were in place for the BJP conclave and for the party stalwarts staying in different hotels, policemen in sizeable strength were deployed to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the way the top BJP leaders would pass through, leaving few traffic wardens to regulate traffic in other areas.

Vehicular traffic was banned near the public meeting venue at police parade ground as also near the conclave venue at the state BJP office putting students, office-goers and other commuters in a tight-spot. Besides, the problem was compounded with the requisition of private city buses and school buses for ferrying BJP workers for the public meeting.

More than 2,000 policemen, supervised by at least five IPS officers and two dozen DSP level officers, had been deployed for the BJP conclave scheduled to conclude tomorrow. Barring former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, all top BJP leaders are in the city.

UNI