Giri Pradakshina triggers severe traffic jams in Vizag
The annual Giri Pradakshina festival in Visakhapatnam caused significant traffic congestion across major city corridors on Tuesday. Despite police efforts to manage the flow, thousands of devotees and regular commuters faced long delays.
Why it matters
It illustrates the logistical challenges of managing large-scale public religious events in dense urban environments.
Severe traffic congestion was reported across several parts of Visakhapatnam on Tuesday as lakhs of devotees participated in the annual Giri Pradakshina of Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy.
Major important roads, including the Maddilapalem–RTC Complex stretch, Visakha Valley Junction–Madhurawada Road, Adavivaram–Sontyam Road, Gopalapatnam Road and the NAD Junction–Gajuwaka corridor, HB Colony Road witnessed bumper-to-bumper traffic, particularly in the evening. Vehicular movement came to a near standstill at several locations, causing severe inconvenience to commuters.
Several motorists reported being stranded for more than an hour on the RTC Complex–Maddilapalem stretch, with long queues of vehicles extending for several kilometres.
The Venkojipalem–Hanumanthawaka Road also witnessed heavy congestion from morning onwards, as thousands of devotees made their way towards Madhurawada, while regular traffic continued to ply on the adjoining routes.
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