Truck carrying liquor topples on DND flyover

The five-kilometre-long stretch of Delhi-Noida Direct flyover saw traffic jam on Sunday, after a truck carrying liquor overturned. The incident took at 3pm, near Yamuna Bridge starting, just after one enters Delhi-Noida Direct flyover from south Delhi. An eight-wheeler truck toppled diagonally in the middle of the road, blocking three lanes, of the four-lane flyover.

"Two-wheeler riders were lucky as they could pass between vehicles. I spent over 90 minutes to cross the spot where the truck was stranded. Ideally, it should not have taken more than 15 minutes," said Shahid Verma, a financial expert who drove to his office to Noida.

With only single lane functional, the traffic situation worsened adding woes to people travelling to Noida. In an hour after the truck toppled the traffic jams extended to Ashram flyover, which is four-kilometre away from the spot. Within half an hour, the pile-up spilled over for another two-kilometre onto the Delhi side.

"Such snarls were unexpected. I was under the impression that it's a Sunday and thought there will be fewer vehicles on the road. On the contrary, I was stuck on the road for an hour," said Nitin Guha, a sales manager.

The traffic police also had tough time getting the crane to the spot, to clear the mess, as it the road was blocked, and there was severe traffic on the Noida bound road as well. Initially, people looted the liquor bottles that had dropped from the truck. Finally, the cops reached the spot cops and barricaded the area to save the bottles but by then, the road was already clogged. During this period, traffic police departments of both Noida and Delhi worked in tandem to keep at least one lane moving, arresting gridlocks that were forming as commuters tried to jump lanes.

"When we reached the spot, the driver was there. He showed all the papers of the truck and bills of the liquor bottles. No one in the incident was injured," said a senior police officer.