MUSSOORIE/NAINITAL: The weekend tourist rush resulted in widespread traffic jams across popular hill towns of Mussoorie and Nainital in Uttarakhand. A serpentine queue of tourist vehicles was seen on Mussoorie-Dehradun road, near Gandhi Chowk, Landour, Lal Tibba and near Picture Palace. There were similar scenes in Nainital.
Almost all hotels were packed to capacity in these towns for the weekend. Sachin Wadhwa, a tourist from Delhi, said, "It took us nearly three hours to reach Mussoorie from Dehradun as the movement of traffic was very slow and we got stuck at Shiv Mandir and later at Picture Palace." Jagjeet Kukreja, secretary of traders' association, said, “Heavy rush of vehicles was seen in various parts of the town on Friday and Saturday.
Places like Gandhi Chowk, Landour, Lal Tibba and Picture Palace were mainly affected.” Even the local residents commuting between Mussoorie and Dehradun were stuck for a long time in the sluggish traffic.
Meanwhile, in Nainital, tourists, hoping to enjoy the long weekend , started pouring in from Thursday. As a result, most hotels were fully booked and there were long traffic jams, as vehicles were parked at temporary parking spots. Popular spots like the markets, zoo, ropeway, Eco Cave Garden, Hanumangarhi, Kilbury, buzzed with activity throughout Saturday. Restaurants saw good business too.
