Delhi Traffic Police issues detailed advisory ahead of Kanwar yatra

Nearly 1,500 traffic personnel, including traffic inspectors and zonal officers will be deployed on the routes and all the border points

The Delhi Traffic Police on Sunday said that vehicular movement in parts of Delhi — especially in northeast, east, central, south, southwest, and north Delhi — will remain affected for the coming 12 days due to the annual kanwar yatra, which starts from Monday. Officers said that traffic in some arterial stretches may be thrown out of gear as two million devotees return from their pilgrimage.

Nearly 200 kanwariya camps have been set up on roadsides for the next 12 days, officers said. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

According to an advisory issued on Sunday, kanwars will enter Delhi from multiple Delhi-Uttar Pradesh borders and pass through key routes such as the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Mathura Road, Aurobindo Marg, Mehrauli-Gurgaon (MG) Road, and Outer Ring Road, leading to traffic diversions and restrictions.

Nearly 1,500 traffic personnel, including traffic inspectors (T-I) and zonal officers (ZOs), will remain deployed on the routes and all the border points such as Apsara, Loni, and Bhopura (northeast), Maharajpur and Ghazipur (east), Kalindi Kunj, Badarpur and Rajokri (south), and Tikri, Jharoda, and Singhu (outer Delhi) as devotees carrying holy water from the Ganga in Uttarakhand travel on foot, traffic police officers said.

They said elaborate traffic arrangements will be in place on the designated borders and routes to minimise inconvenience to commuters. A senior officer aware of the preparations, requesting anonymity, said that nearly 200 kanwariya camps have been set up on roadsides for the next 12 days.

Designated routes

According to traffic police, devotees will mainly pass through nine routes, most of which would fall in east, central and north Delhi. For those entering Delhi from Apsara Border, near Seemapuri, will be the Shahdara flyover to Seelampur T-point, further to ISBT Kashmere Gate flyover.

From there, kanwariyas can enter north Delhi and take Boulevard Road, Rani Jhansi Road, Faiz Road, and Upper Ridge Road to reach Dhaula Kuan and further to NH 48 through which they will exit the city from Rajokri border and enter Haryana.

For kanwariyas entering Delhi from Maharajpur border near Anand Vihar, the traffic police have designated the route via Road no. 56, Ghazipur border, NE3, Ring Road, Mathura Road and exit from Badarpur border to reach Haryana. The other two routes will either be via Kalindi Kunj, Mathura Road and Badarpur border; or Kalindi Kunj, Mathura Road, Modi Mill, Maa Anandmai Marg, and Mehrauli Badarpur (MB) Road.

For kanwariyas going to Gurugram, the traffic police have proposed two routes passing through south Delhi — from Ashram Chowk to August Kranti or Aurobindo Marg and reach Mehrauli-Gurugram (MG) Road and exit from Ayanagar border.

The other two designated routes are New Rohtak Road (from Kamal T-point to Tikri border) and Najafgarh Road (from Zakhira to Najafgarh). In addition to these important roads and intersections, devotees may also move in smaller numbers in several locations across Delhi, the traffic police said.

According to the traffic police advisory, heavy transport vehicles will be diverted by the UP Police from Mohan Nagar in Ghaziabad towards NH44. No such vehicles will be allowed towards Wazirabad Road via Bhopura border and/or towards GT Road via Apsara border. Heavy commercial transport vehicles, except city buses, coming from GT Karnal Road at Outer Ring Road will be diverted straight towards NH44 and will not be allowed to move on Wazirabad Road and GT Road towards Shahdara.

“The devotees and road users are advised to follow the traffic rules and obey the directions of personnel on duty. During the kanwar yatra, traffic violations will be checked by on-the-spot prosecution teams and by photography and videography of violations, which will be followed by prosecution,” added a second senior traffic police officer.

The kanwar yatra is carried out during the Hindu calendar month of Shravan. Thousands of pilgrims mostly from Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh move towards Haridwar to fetch holy Ganga water and return to their hometowns, where they offer the water to lord Shiva at prominent temples. This year, the annual pilgrimage will start on July 22, and it will conclude on August 2.