'1 km in 2 hours', commuters stranded for hours in Bengaluru

Bengaluru, the bustling tech hub of India, experienced a nightmarish traffic situation on Wednesday, with commuters enduring agonizing hours of gridlock and vehicle breakdowns. The epicenter of this traffic nightmare was the Outer Ring Road (ORR) area, where frustrated citizens reported being stuck for an excruciating five hours or more.

This traffic catastrophe followed a recent citywide bandh organized by the 'Karnataka Jala Samrakshana Samiti,' a coalition of farmers and Kannada organizations. The bandh was orchestrated as a protest against the release of Cauvery river water to neighboring Tamil Nadu, and its repercussions seemed to have spilled onto the city's roads.

On social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), scores of users vented their frustration, warning fellow commuters to steer clear of the ORR, Marathahalli, Sarjapura, and Silkboard routes or avoid leaving their offices before 9 pm. Some harrowing accounts included users covering a mere 1 km in two hours, while others revealed that school buses were dropping off children as late as 8 pm due to the traffic chaos

9 years, never felt like leaving Bangalore. I just hate the government we have now. #bangaloretraffic pic.twitter.com/EktSCZ6B6v

— Ayushi Chouhan (@babysharkayushi) September 27, 2023