Traffic snarl at Walayar

PALAKKAD: The heavy inflow of vehicles to the state with goods for Onam festival has thrown the movement of goods and passenger vehicles Walayar inter-State checkpoint out of gear since Friday night. The ‘Green Channel' system that allowed the free flow of passenger vehicles through National Highway-47 between Kerala and Tamil Nadu was blocked at Walayar inter-State checkpoint since Friday night putting in hardship not only to passengers but also to patients coming to hospitals in Coimbatore.

The traffic block had resulted in the suspension of inter-State buses between the two States. Some private buses from Palakkad to Coimbatore passed through the checkpoint at 11.30 am on Friday. But after that, buses terminated services two km away from the State border from Tamil Nadu side.

The traffic jam is seen up to Chavadi in Tamil Nadu, five km away from the Walayar border. Officials at the checkpoint said the heavy rush of vehicles after the week-long lorry strike and flow of vehicles with goods for Onam festival resulted in the traffic jam at the checkpoint. They said that steps were being taken to clear the Green Channel for passenger vehicles.