E-Paper
1 lakh New Year revellers trigger massive traffic chaos in city
New Delhi
New Delhi
Nearly 100,000 revellers poured out onto the streets of central Delhi to celebrate New Year day, leading to massive traffic jams at popular hang out spots of the city — Connaught Place, Khan Market, India Gate and near Delhi Zoo — on Wednesday evening.
Delhi Traffic Police estimates showed that till 7pm on Wednesday, nearly 100,000 people had gathered in central Delhi. While the police had closed several roads leading to Connaught Place to curtail the swelling rush of masses, it became for the security personnel to manage those on foot.
To control crowd in these area, the entry and exit to five Metro stations — Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhawan, Pragati Maidan, Khan Market and Mandi House — were closed after 6.30pm. Interchange facility continued at Central Secretariat (Yellow and Violet lines) and Mandi House (Blue and Violet lines).
Police officials managing traffic said the India Gate roundabout (C-hexagon) was completely packed oN Wednesday. The crowd of visitors there spilled onto the main roads and this further affecting vehicular movement. Similar problem of pedestrians hitting the roads were seen around Delhi zoo, because of which roads around Pragati Maidan and ITO saw traffic moving at a snail’s pace.
“We had to barricade one carriageway to let pedestrians pass safely on the Pragati Maidan road. We were also directing those on foot to take the skywalk. If all these people had crossed at the signals, we would have faced more problems,” a senior traffic official said.
The worst affected stretches on Wednesday evening were, ITO, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, Connaught Place Outer Circle, Janpath, C-Hexagon, Indraprastha Marg, Bhairon Marg, Vikas Marg, Tilak Marg, Pragati Maidan, Mandi House, Ashoka Road, Lok Kalyan Marg, Khan Market, Lodi Road and Gol Dak Khana.
Traffic spillover was also witnessed at Sardar Patel Marg, Teen Murti Marg, Dhaula Kuan, Moti Bagh crossing, Barapullah, AIIMS flyover, Sri Aurobindo Marg and Ring Road near South Extension.
As traffic jams continued for several hours, many frustrated commuters took to social media to narrate their plight.
Indian wrestler Sangram Singh was among those who were stuck in the crawling traffic on Wednesday.
In a tweet he said, “In #Delhi some important step should be taken against traffic, on Janpath road ye haal hai to baki kya hoga. I request Delhi people, plz take cab to go to local places. Trafic problem will be solved mostly. (In Delhi some important step should be taken to control traffic. If this is the condition on Janpath, what will be the state of the other roads. I request Delhiites to take cabs to travel to nearby places. At least, the traffic problem will be solved) (sic).”
Some commuters also expressed their concerns over missing their flights owing to traffic coming to a standstill.
“Need some help..Stuck in the Delhi traffic since last 2 hours..we have 22 tickets(family) and I think we are gonna miss the flight to Mumbai - 8.35pm flight 1/1/2020 , request you to guide us,” tweeted a commuter, Shrey Joshi, tagging a private airline.
Wednesday was a déjà vu moment for the national capital. Last New Year day, the city police had faced a tough time managing around 250,000 people who had gathered around India Gate and Connaught Place.
