• Source:JND
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Chennai: People returning to Chennai city post Diwali celebrations witnessed chaos, with all entry points heavily congested, resulting in 20- to 30-minute delays at various bottlenecks. The worst-affected areas included the southern gateway at Perungalathur near Tambaram and the Kaveripakkam-Sriperumbudur stretch, where ongoing expansion work on the Chennai-Bengaluru highway has left the roads in poor condition.

Despite 3,800 government buses and trains operating, the highway was overwhelmed with private vehicles and taxis, leading to queues stretching 2 to 3 kilometres. An estimated 150,000 vehicles entered the city in the past 24 hours, leaving traffic police struggling to manage the escalating congestion as it continued late into the night. To alleviate the traffic situation, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) suspended boom barriers at toll plazas, as per a TOI report.

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Authorities advised private vehicle owners to avoid the congested Grand Southern Trunk (GST) route in favour of the Thiruporur-Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), but compliance was low. One of the commuters, who drove nine hours from Madurai via Tambaram, noted, "We tried the OMR route last week, but it was equally chaotic due to metro rail construction and omni buses stopping mid-road to pick up passengers, with no one to control them."

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As crowds swelled at district bus stops, the state transport department extended special bus services until Monday night, adding 830 more buses and contracting private buses in high-demand areas for Chennai. Additionally, Southern Railway announced unreserved trains from Trichy and Madurai, along with extra local trains from Tambaram, to accommodate the rush on Monday morning.