Traffic jams in Capital leave commuters irked

It was a tiring Wednesday for lakhs of commuters who were caught in endless traffic snarls as VVIP delegates for the upcoming ASEAN summit landed in the Capital. The on-going preparations for the Republic Day too led to the slow movement of vehicles in Central and Lutyen's Delhi.

Key roads were shut in the morning briefly and vehicles diverted to ensure that the delegates' caravan passed by smoothly. Office goers en route to Delhi from Gurgaon and Dwarka were worst hit as they battled serpentine queues of cars and public transport during peak rush hours.

Talking to DNA, Rashmi Choudhary, a banker said, "What could be worse than being stuck in traffic with urgent meetings hanging like a sword on your head? I was stuck for almost an hour on Dhaula Kuan road.

Traffic choked further in the evening with commuters headed home. Areas like Connaught Place, India Gate, Pragati Maidan, ITO, Dhaula Kuan, Subroto Park were choc-a-bloc with traffic. Tempers ran high on roads as drivers lost patience at the snail pace of vehicles.

"It took me three hours to reach ITO from Gurugram. A stretch that would have taken not more than 1.5 hours, seemed never in sight," said Malliswaran, an IT professional.

The National Capital Region too fared extremely bad during the evening as the Noida link and DND on way to Delhi remained choked. Traffic Police have warned that the situation will worsen Thursday onwards as heavy barricading and checks ahead of the Republic Day, will lead to jams.

A senior Delhi Traffic Police official informed that the department has requested Google Maps to show alternate routes and diversions that have been put in place by authorities.

"Traffic movement was stopped on certain stretches, including Dhaula Kuan, for a few minutes owing to the VIP movement.The situation will continue until the visiting leaders travel from the airport to their hotels in Lutyens' Delhi," he said.

People have been advised to avoid stretches like Dhaula Kuna, Sardar Patel Marg, Man Singh Road, Nyaya Marg, Shanti Path, S Subramaniam Bharti Marg through the remaining part of the week. With these stretches being affected, people going towards south Delhi are also likely to experience delays.