Fog halts Prez’s city visit, commuters stuck for hours

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 16

Even as President Droupadi Murmu could not make it to Jalandhar as per her scheduled programme, the traffic diversions given by the police to the commuters since the early hours on Friday put them into inconvenience.

Murmu was to visit Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology for the convocation event but her flight could not take off from Amritsar owing to foggy weather. Her aircraft was to land at the Adampur Airforce base from where she was to reach the campus by road. More than two hours ahead of her visit, the route from Adampur to the NIT campus was closed.

The commuters coming from Phagwara to Jalandhar too had a harrowing experience. Sameer Bakshi, who had to reach his office in Jalandhar from Phagwara this morning, said, "While usually it is a 25-minute run but today it took me 2.5 hours. The traffic police diverted the vehicles from near Haveli towards Curo Mall after which I entered the city via cantonment."

Those residing along Pathankot Chowk, Maqsudan Chowk and other routes from PAP Complex to Jalandhar also remained stuck in jams along alternate routes for a long time. Later, Governor Gulab Chand Kataria reached the campus and conferred degrees on students.