Jams as cops ditch drones, choppers to check traffic

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Traffic Police ditched the helicopters and drones for managing the Ganesh Visarjan traffic, as a result of which traffic was thrown out of gear

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Traffic Police ditched the helicopters and drones for managing the Ganesh Visarjan traffic, as a result of which traffic was thrown out of gear with parts of central and east Delhi being clogged for hours.

HT Image

Senior traffic officials said that extra deployment of traffic officials was made around all the ghats to manage the crowd and to direct traffic.

Traffic jams started by 10am around Vikas Marg, Akshardham, and Saraswati Marg, Beadonpura and Faiz Road in Karol Bagh. Snarls picked up around immersion ghats such as Kalindi Kunj, Kudesia and Geetaghats afternoon and continued till late evening.

“No major traffic jams were reported apart from some holdup near the immersion ghats. Overall the traffic movement was slow but smooth,” said a senior traffic official.

Commuters, however, had a different ordeal to narrate.

Sugandha Sharma, a resident of CR Park, was stuck in a traffic jam which lasted for over two hours. “I started from Connaught Place around 5pm and reached home after 7.30pm. There were several diversions and traffic was moving at snail’s pace. I did not see a single traffic official on the route,” Sharma said.

Commuters vented their anger on social networking websites.

“How has Ganesh Visarjan suddenly become so big in Delhi? For a sec confused if I am in Del or Mumbai. Roads are choc a block!” tweeted Preeti Bakaya.

Last year, the traffic department had used aerial monitoring for the first time for traffic management. The pilot along with a traffic official on the helicopter were connected to the traffic constables on the road and kept giving them information of crowd.

Apart from copters, drones were also used to record the entire procession on video. These were connected to PCR units.

“There were traffic jams last year too, but not as bad as this time. With the helicopters hovering overhead and traffic officials on ground, it seemed like the traffic police had become more proactive but we are back to the same page again,” said Musaid Imran, who was stuck at the Noida flyover for an hour on Thursday.