After an evening of snarls, what Delhi Traffic Police suggests amid festivity

Delhi is set to see massive rush on key routes this week as revellers head out for shopping amid Diwali and other festivities.

Delhi has been witnessing mad rush over the past few days amid the festive fervour ahead of Diwali, leading to kilometres-long traffic jams on key routes. The Delhi Traffic Police took to Twitter to alert commuters to avoid certain roads that could be closed or congested due to “special arrangements” on Saturday morning.

Traffic jam at Barapullah flyover, in New Delhi, India, on Friday (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)

The capital's traffic police asked travellers to avoid the Gurgaon road, Dhaula Kuan flyover, SP Marg, Mother Teresa Crescent, R/A Teen Murti, R/A Kautilya and Akbar Road for an hour, till about 10:30 am.

Calls were also received from Dhaula Kuan, Khajuri Khas, Raghubir Nagar, Naraina flyover, Mangolpuri, Palam, Dwarka, Kanjhawala, Karala, an official told news agency PTI. The Delhi Police have attributed the traffic to the long weekend and festivals like Dhanteras, Diwali apart from run-down roads and construction work in several areas.

According to a real-time traffic monitoring index, the traffic congestion in the city during the rush hour was 13 per cent worse than usual on Friday and during the evening rush hour it took commuters nearly double the time to reach their destinations, as compared to non-congested roads.

This is likely to continue in the coming week as the festival of lights is celebrated on Monday, followed by Govardhan Puja the next day and then Bhai Dooj.