Large number of people thronged North Car Street in Tirunelveli for Deepavali shopping on Friday. | Photo Credit: SHAIKMOHIDEEN A All roads in the southern districts were almost chocked on Friday evening with Deepavali shopping moving to top gear and shoppers hitting the streets to complete their last minute shopping to celebrate the ‘Festival of Lights’ on Sunday.The already cramped Tirunelveli Town area, which is known for its encroachments along all four Car Streets around Swami Nellaiyappar Temple and other busy roads near the shrine wase teeming with unmanageable crowd with the policemen regulating them with much difficulty.Similar situation prevailed in Vannarpet and Murugankurichi, both housing jewellery, textile and domestic appliances showrooms. The Market Road in Palayamkottai, dotted with traditional sweets and snacks shops, was completely chocked on Friday evening with the shops swarming with the customers.Police have made elaborate security arrangements where huge crowd gather for their last minute Deepavali shopping.

After installing CCTV cameras at vantage points around these points, police have erected watch towers from where the policemen were monitoring the crowd. Banners carrying the photos of robbers and pocket-pickers have been displayed in these places.Places like Valliyoor, the district’s second busiest town, Thisaiyanvilai and Ambasamudram also witnessed brisk business due to the eleventh hour shopping.The narrow WGC Road, VE Road, Jayaraj Road, Bala Vinayagar Temple Road, Ettaiyapuram Road, Anna Nagar Main Road and Palayamkottai Road, all in already strangled Thoothukudi that do not have sufficient vehicle parking space due to encroachments could not handle the thousands of last-minute shoppers hitting the cracker shops, sweet stalls, textile showrooms, jewellery shops, parotta stalls, liquor shops etc.The temporary shops that had mushroomed along the roads made things tough for the police regulating the crowd.Even though intermittent drizzle drenched this coastal town on Friday, it failed to dampen the spirit of Deepavali shoppers.Tenkasi, Alangulam, Paavoorchathram, Shencottai, Puliyangudi and Sankarankovil witnessed brisk business on Friday evening with the shoppers thronging the commercial establishments in large number to give ‘final touch’ to their buying spree.Even though all the products – right from the sweets to crackers – have witnessed a minimum of 20% increase in their price, it has not detered the buyers, it seems, as all the shops were virtually overflowing with unimaginable crowd.In Kanniyakumari district, the entire 42-Km-long battered stretch between Nagercoil and Kaliyakkavilai on Keralam border was submerged by shoppers.

All roads in Nagercoil, Colachel, Marthandam, Thuckalay, Karungal, Vadaseri and other places remained chocked and the police intervention ensured the vehicular movement at snail’s pace. Published - November 06, 2026 09:30 pm IST