With heavy bottlenecks outside stadium, fans forced to wait it out for three hours after show; traffic police blame organisers Body text
Traffic moved at snail’s pace on the Sion Panvel highway. Pic/Satej Shinde
For the thousands of Beliebers, who gathered at DY Patil stadium last evening to watch the Canadian pop star perform live, getting back home turned into a nightmare. With heavy bottlenecks near the stadium, many fans managed to leave the venue only three hours later. The situation was worse on the highway that saw jams till the wee hours of the morning.
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While the concert ended at 10 pm, Beliebers were seen struggling to hail an OLA, Uber or autorickshaw home. Due to heavy traffic right in front of DY Patil stadium, many were forced to wait on the road or sit on the footpath for hours till they could get into a cab.
Some managed to leave the stadium only after 1 am. Those who had travelled in private cars to the venue, also struggled to get their vehicles out of the parking lot. Those who did manage to leave had to wait in interminable traffic for over eight hours on both sides of the Sion-Panvel highway.
A source from the traffic department blamed the organisers for the mismanagement of traffic.
"The organisers did not cooperate with us during the event. We asked them to give us parking details and access to the ground behind, but they did not help with either. Over 700 to 800 Ola and Uber vehicles were parked along the service road," an official said.
When contacted, Nitin Pawar, deputy commissioner of police, Navi Mumbai traffic, said that the department did its best to ensure the smooth movement of traffic. "It was a huge event, where more than 40,000 people attended. Our staff worked round the clock to ensure that traffic was smooth. It was a difficult task," he said.
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