‘25 minutes on a 200-metre stretch’: Navratri footfall worsens gridlock near Kalkaji in Delhi

Motorists said the stretch between the Nehru Place and Modi Mill flyovers remain jam-packed, with vehicles crawling at a snail’s pace.

Ongoing construction near the Modi Mill flyover in the national capital had already disrupted traffic on the Outer Ring Road but the Navratri crowds at temples around Kalkaji have now compounded the congestion, mainly between the Nehru Place and Modi Mill flyovers.

Commuters complained of minimal presence of traffic personnel on the affected stretch to manage the frequent snarls, especially during peak hours.

Illegal roadside parking near the Kalkaji temple and its adjacent flyover, along with passengers being picked up and dropped off at non-designated spots on the carriageway towards Sukhdev Vihar Metro station and Mathura Road, have become a common sight.

Commuters complained of minimal presence of traffic personnel on the affected stretch to manage the frequent snarls, especially during peak hours. Traffic police officers, however, blamed the congestion on the Public Works Department (PWD)’s ongoing construction work and the thousands of devotees visiting the Kalkaji and Bhairav temples nearby for Navratri. The creation of a temporary passage on the road for devotees has further led to a reduction of space for vehicular movement, the officers said.

Illegal roadside parking near the Kalkaji temple and its adjacent flyover, along with passengers being picked up and dropped off at non-designated spots on the carriageway towards Sukhdev Vihar Metro station and Mathura Road, have become a common sight.

“It usually takes me not more than an hour to travel from Chattarpur Metro to Sarai Julena but on Tuesday, I was held up for around 25 minutes on a 200-metre stretch near the Kalkaji temple. A part of the road has been blocked with a rope for devotees, causing traffic to move slowly. The buses on the route are a big inconvenience,” Vishnu, who crossed the stretch around 3.30pm on Tuesday, said.

Another commuter, Rajkumar Monga, said even as the carriageway is wide near the Kalkaji temple, unauthorised parking of vehicles on both sides of the road, particularly along the flyover, has reduced the space for driving.

“I often use this route to reach my office in Sukhdev Vihar. Roadside parking has increased in the past few days – the reason best known to traffic police officials. People halt their vehicles for picking and dropping occupants while some even stop to buy items from shops selling pooja-related items,” Monga said.

A traffic police officer in the area said they have deployed nearly 20 personnel on roads around Kalkaji, Bhairav and Lotus temples to regulate the flow of traffic, tow away vehicles parked at unauthorised locations, and stop people from unnecessarily halting vehicles.

“We have deployed two cranes for removing such unauthorisedly parked vehicles. Even as there are multiple parking spaces, including the multi-level parking, around Nehru Place, many motorists avoid using them and park them at non-designated spaces. They don’t follow the posters we have installed for the same,” the officer said, seeking anonymity.

When HT visited the stretch on Tuesday afternoon, except for a crane parked near the Kalkaji flyover, not a single traffic police personnel could be spotted in the area.