Pre-Diwali rush, INDIA bloc’s rally preparations trigger traffic chaos in Delhi

Commuters witnessed traffic snarls in several parts of Delhi on Saturday as heavy rush was recorded in markets due to the last weekend before Diwali, restrictions at some locations for National Unity Day-related events, breakdown of vehicles on a few roads, and security arrangements for the Opposition INDIA bloc’s scheduled rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday.

Several arterial roads in central, south, north and east Delhi were packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Ongoing infrastructure-related construction in key south Delhi areas and traffic chaos around Sarai Kale Khan, driven by merging traffic from the recently opened Barapullah Phase-3 flyover and the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway onto the already congested Ring Road, added to the gridlock, leaving commuters stuck in jams.

Traffic chaos across Delhi

The situation was worse on both carriageways of the Ring Road between Bhikaji Cama Place and the Indraprastha (IP) flyover, and on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, National Highway (NH)-9, and the Delhi Noida Direct (DND) flyway towards Sarai Kale Khan from Ghaziabad, east Delhi and Noida. Queues of vehicles of more than one kilometre were seen towards Ghaziabad from the MCD toll tax booths at Ghazipur in the afternoon.

Commuters said breakdown of a couple of vehicles, including a truck, near the Ghazipur border, and haphazard toll tax collection from commercial vehicles were the prime reasons for the traffic deadlock.

In south Delhi, traffic chaos was mostly seen on the Ring Road between Sarai Kale Khan and Bhikaji Cama Place. The stretch between the Sarai Kale Khan flyover and the DND flyway cut was choked mainly by four to five vendors selling fruits on the roadside. “We regularly disperse such vendors, but they return or change their spots,” said a police officer.

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Traffic congestion was witnessed on the Ring Road towards Lajpat Nagar as well as on the opposite carriageway near Kilokari.

“We have increased our presence on the affected roads. The traffic control room also monitor the situation through Google Maps,” a traffic police officer said.