NCP Foundation Day celebrations brings traffic on Pune-Bengaluru highway to a standstill

While the Ajit Pawar-led NCP celebrated the occasion at Balewadi Stadium, the Sharad Pawar faction held theirs at the Bal Gandharva auditorium on J M Road.

Since morning, traffic from Ravet to Balewadi on the highway was thrown out of gear. The 11km stretch hardly saw any movement of vehicles and Tuesday being a working day compounded the traffic woes of the office goers.

Siddharth Patil, a software professional who works in Baner, says he was stuck in traffic for more than 45 minutes. “I stay in Pashan so Baner is just 10 minutes from my home. However, today the traffic was choc-a-bloc with vehicles making no movement. All the efforts of the traffic police seemed to be focused on the seamless movement of vehicles towards Balewadi stadium,” he said.

A senior officer with the traffic branch of Pimpri Chinchwad police said because of the large number of VIPs and vehicles which came to the stadium, traffic snarl was reported between Ravet and Balwadi which was removed by 5.30 pm.