Irate devotees block road over lack of Chennai buses

Angered over the non-availability of buses especially to Chennai, devotees blocked the Tindivanam Road in the temple town on Monday. 

Though officials had set up nine temporary bus stands at various locations across the town, the first day’s festivities on Sunday witnessed a whopping 10 lakh devotees undertaking the 14-km girivalam walk. 

As most of the devotees who undertook the walk were from Chennai, they were upset when they could not get buses for the return journey at the temporary bus stands. 

What complicated the situation was the inability of officials at the bus stands to help the devotees in getting buses or inform the passengers of a fixed time about the arrival of the buses. 

Following this, the devotees blocked the Tindivanam Road and traffic was affected for over an hour until police, revenue and transport officials reached the spot and pacified them. 

Officials heaved a sigh of relief when the agitators finally withdrew the blockade. 

As the buses were unavailable, the few trains being operated on the Chennai route from Tiruvannamalai ran packed.