Madurai Prepares Itself For Diwali Celebrations — Bans Auto Rickshaws And Cars

One of the moves was to ban auto rickshaws and cars temporarily, at popular shopping areas in the city from Sunday, giving the public a better shopping experience.

Also, to deal with parking crisis, playgrounds that belong to schools and colleges will be transformed into temporary parking spaces to deal with the heavy traffic during the festivities.

Most of the major textiles and jewellery shops, which are crowded by shoppers during the festival time, are located on the streets around the famous Meenakshi Amman Temple.

On a regular day, it takes a commuter merely 10 minutes to pass the stretch outside the temple, but last week, commuters took nearly an hour to pass through the stretch due to heavy traffic.

The ban on auto rickshaws and cars in the crowded areas has helped ease the traffic in the city. Auto rickshaws are one of the primary reasons for the heavy traffic in the city during the festive time.

According to senior police officers, no empty autos will be allowed into the South Aavani Moola Streets. Cars are not allowed into the West Perumal Maistry Street, which is a shopping hotspot.

Police officers said that they are working hard to ensure that the people can walk with ease around the Meenakshi Amman Temple.

All traffic personnel of the Madurai city police, which include six inspectors, six sub-inspectors and 100 constables have been concentrated around the temple to regulate the flow of traffic.