People we seen spending their day outside and huge crowd was witnessed at eateries across the city.
Delhiites did not let the pollution or cold weather dampen New Year's spirit. People we seen spending their day outside and huge crowd was witnessed at eateries across the city. To ensure smooth celebration Delhi Police personnel were present across the city as thousands of Delhiites, soaked in festive spirit, thronged restaurants, pubs and malls and lounged in open public spaces at India Gate and Connaught Place.
Though mercury was on the lower side, the sun shone bright during the day, as massive gatherings were witnessed at major markets and popular party hotspots, including Saket Select City Walk, Nehru Place, Khan Market, Rajouri Garden and Connaught Place. This led to choked roads and slow traffic movements around the city. Vehicles parked along roads also added to the woes of commuters.
"Due to the massive crowd at major hubs caused a lot of traffic jams leading to slow traffic movements around the city. While the vehicles parked along roads also added to the woes. There were 15000 police personnel who were on their toes to keep a check on the activities," said a senior police official.
Exit facilities at four major metro stations in central Delhi were shut as thousands of revellers thronged surrounding areas on Tuesday to celebrate the New Year, a senior official said.
"As per instructions received from the Delhi Police, exits at four stations -- Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhavan, Mandi House and Pragati Maidan metro stations -- have been blocked with immediate effect due to swelling crowd," the official said.
A massive number of people gathered at India Gate area and Connaught Place in Lutyens' Delhi and the city zoo near Mathura Road to celebrate New Year's Day.
"As per instructions received from the Delhi Police, exits at four stations -- Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhavan, Mandi House and Pragati Maidan metro stations had to blocked with immediate effect due to swelling crowd. To control the situation buses going towards India Gate were diverted, said Alok Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic).
People travelling through areas like India gate, Delhi zoo, Hanuman Mandir, near ISBT, Kalkaji Temple, Birla Mandir on Mandir Marg, Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib had to face a lot of problem.
"I travel to office at KG Marg via the India Gate stretch, usually it takes me 10 minutes but today it took me 55 minutes due to heavy traffic due to which I got late for office," said Varun Anand, an accountant with a private firm.
While the traffic police had to shut down the stretch from Ring Road which goes towards the zoo for brief period during the afternoon because of high pedestrian movement.
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