Bareilly: Bareilly came to a grinding halt as lakhs of devotees from across the country and abroad thronged city roads on the final day of the three-day 100th Urs-e-Razvi here on Monday, which also happened to be Dhanteras. Traffic was moving at a snail’s pace on several arterial roads and by-lanes since morning, but came to a standstill as soon as the religious ceremony (qul sharif) concluded in the afternoon.Arterial roads in Civil Lines, Choupla, Islamia market, Novelty crossing, Qutubkhana, Bara Bazaar, Biharipur, Shyamganj, among others, remained choked throughout day despite major traffic diversions in place.Speaking to TOI, superintendent of police (traffic) Subhash Gangwar said, “All possible measures to maintain smooth traffic movement were taken. Since it was the last day of Urs-e-Razvi as well as Dhanteras on Monday, managing things had become more challenging than previous years. The traffic plan was enforced on the first day of Urs itself, but with huge crowd thronging as well as leaving the city on the last day roads became jam-packed by the afternoon. However, the situation was brought under control. Police personnel were deployed at almost all city junctions, route diversions and bylanes to tackle the rush.”Essential service like ambulance was hit, too. With the district hospital located in Civil Lines, close to the Urs venue, ambulances were seen stuck in traffic snarls at the Novelty junction, and drivers took other routes to reach the hospital — a barricading was done near Novelty to restrict traffic movement in the afternoon.SP Singh, a Civil Lines resident, “There were huge blockades on several city stretches, but the worst affected were Biharipur, Qutubkhana Choupla road, Ayub Khan, Novelty crossing and the road leading to Islamia ground (Urs venue). The Islamia road was completely choked with kiosks selling eatables, prayer caps, religious books, etc, leaving no space even for two-wheelers to move.”Deepti Singh, a commuter, said, “Roadways bus stands, railway station, taxi and cycle stands in the city also remained congested throughout day with devotees boarding transports to reach their destinations on the last day. With both Dhanteras and Urs-e-Razvi on Monday, roadways buses and other public transports were seen completely packed with commuters, mostly devotees.”The crowd was consistent on the first two days of Urs, but Monday saw the maximum rush with markets jam-packed with people. Residents who came out for Dhanteras shopping got stuck in the Urs rush. “The usual 10-15 minutes travel from Rampur Garden to Alamgiriganj took almost an hour today,” said Anshu Sharma, a homemaker and resident of Rampur Garden.

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