Enthusiasm of Bangalore's pandal hoppers killed by traffic conditions

BENGALURU: During the period of Saptami to Navami (October 16 and 18) is the time when people in Bengal and the north Indian states celebrate the Durga Puja pandals. The scenario, is not the same in the state of Bangalore which houses of 100-120 pandals. Planning to visit many of them is a Herculean task, because of the city’s poor traffic conditions. “I miss Kolkata during these three days. We cannot even cover three to five pandals in three days. Traffic kills all our enthusiasm by the time we manage to reach the destination,” Sapna Mund, a resident of HSR layout said.

Smriti Bahar from Lucknow said that “In the past three years, I’ve hardly visited three pandals. It’s hard to wade through traffic in the evening. We’ve no option but to stick to one pandal in our area.”

Maitree Bandhan, which is said to be one of the oldest Bengali organizations in the city, on Tuesday launched the parikrama project to cater the pandal hoppers. Three buses will ferry people around the city. “The 20-seater buses will shuttle between various locations till October 18 and anybody can board them. The details of the services and contacts are displayed at all pandals,” said Sandeep Shome, general secretary of Bandhan.

The services are will be provided at the areas of KR Puram, BTM Layout, RT Nagar, Kadugodi, Electronics City, Yeshwantpur, Whitefield, Jalahalli and Bannerghatta Road.