C'Wealth Games lane restriction, blueline bus withdrawal cause road chaos

It was a chaotic Monday on Delhi roads today as the exclusive lane for Commonwealth Games remained out of bounds for normal traffic while around 1,600 blueline buses kept off the stretches on selective stretches.

Police enforced the restrictions on the lanes from Games Village to practice venues from 8 am leading to serpentine queues on several stretches with people complaining that they had a harrowing team reaching their destinations. 

The restrictions were imposed at 8 am for a period of 12 hours, a senior police official said. 

The most affected were those using the NH-24, connecting the capital and the Uttar Pradesh border town of Ghaziabad, due to athletes starting to move out of the Village for the practice venues.

Adding to the commuter woes, around 1,600 blueline buses were kept out of roads as Delhi government prevented its operations near Commonwealth Games venues in a bid to improve the image of the city ahead of the sporting event.

It was almost bumper-to-bumper traffic on almost all roads which has an exclusive lane for the Games related traffic and many people were seen stuck in their vehicles for about two hours.

The uncomfortable weather added to the woes of the motorists.

A large number of traffic personnel fanned out across the city to facilitate Commonwealth Games related traffic as athletes are scheduled to visit practice venues spread across the city.

"I started from Noida at 8:30 am and reached Connaught Place two hours later. The traffic through DND flyover was a horrifying experience," said S Chandrabhanu, a media professional.

Same was the case with Sunil Kulkarni, an system analyst with a software company who started at 11 am. "I started from Mayur Vihar at around 11 am and it took two hours for me to reach Barakhamba road," he said. 

It was a field day for auto-rickshaw drivers as people waiting for bluelines made a beeline for the three-wheelers. Some commuters claimed the auto-rickshaw drivers used the opportunity to overcharge them.

"Bluelines were not there and there were no DTC buses at regular intervals as promised by the government. We had to suffer for the so-called image makeover. We had to shell out more money for this by paying extra money to auto drivers," said Mayank Gupta, a bank employee.

Anyone deliberately straying into the lanes while they are operational will attract a fine of Rs 2,000. Yesterday, Delhi police challaned 17 people for deliberately entering Games lanes.