Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (SP)

Karkala, Oct 26: Traffic came to a standstill on narrow Agumbe Ghat stretch of the road, as vehicles loaded with passengers during the series of holidays made a beeline for this road on Sunday afternoon. The people who had planned to reach their destinations within hours, were made to wait for several hours at the ghat section.

Traffic blocks were witnessed at 13th, 11th, ninth, and seventh bend of the ghat road. Hundreds of vehicles got entangled in traffic jam till late night on Sunday.

Sudden increase in the number of vehicles has been blamed for this phenomenon. Many private vehicles, which were trying to negotiate this steep ghat road for the first time, were found to be struggling to move ahead in the melee. Although policemen of Hebri and Agumbe stations reached the spot and tried to ease the situation, the navigation of vehicles through the ghat section, which normally takes around 30 minutes, took over two and half hours on Sunday. Buses, ambulances and private vehicles alike suffered because of traffic snarl. Many of the passengers also blamed bad condition of the road and failure of the police to warn those entering the road about imminent delay, for the problem.