South Mumbai witnessed massive traffic snarls as a sea of people converged at Marine Drive to witness the victory parade of the Indian cricket team on Thursday evening.

Trains arriving at Churchgate on the Western Railway network and the sprawling Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the last station on Central Railway's vast route, were crowded as people from various parts of the metropolis made their way to the southern tip right from the afternoon of the metropolis to watch the parade.

Stations and roads reverberated with slogans of 'Bharat Mataki Jai', 'Vande Mataram' and 'India India' as Tricolour-waving and blue jersey-clad crowds braved the intermittent rains to catch a glimpse of the team that had brought T20 cricket's most coveted prize home after more than a decade.

Roads in the entire region saw heavy parking since afternoon, while megaphone wielding Railway Protection Force and railway police personnel manned stations guiding people to the iconic Marine Drive. By evening, the announcements were about not proceeding to the sea face since the area was already packed to the brim.

By 4:45pm, traffic was stopped towards Marine Drive and the cascading effect left other roads in the southern part of Mumbai in chaos as well with vehicles lined up bumper to bumper. Many motorists complained they were on the road for hours with traffic moving at snail's pace.

"It took me one-and-half hours to get from Marine Lines to Chowpatty, which normally should have taken a few minutes," a taxi driver said.

By early evening, civic-run BEST stopped bus services in Marine Drive area with several of the vehicles stuck in traffic and failing to complete their route trips in time, officials said.

"At least 10 routes were severely affected due to the victory parade and the resultant overcrowding at Marine Drive and other parts of south Mumbai," a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking spokesperson informed.

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