Delhi gridlocked amid festive rush

The Metro recorded higher ridership, while traffic police deployed extra personnel and used cranes to remove some illegally parked vehicles.

Roads across the Capital reeled from the relentless heavy traffic movement since the early hours of Friday, as shoppers stepped up purchases for Dhanteras and Diwali, causing massive gridlocks on key roads leading to markets and commercial areas.

Traffic jam at ITO over the past week. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

Increased traffic amid the festive season over the past week, deployment of pollution-control vehicles—mechanised sweepers and mist sprinklers—and vehicular breakdowns spelled longer commute times across Delhi’s southern, central and northern corridors.

“The situation becomes challenging in areas where market roads are narrow and the authorised parking spaces are either far away or already packed. As a result, people park their vehicles at unauthorised parking spaces. The roadside parking further reduces the carriageway space available for moving traffic. We have deployed cranes to tow away vehicles parked at wrong places. But it’s not possible to remove each vehicle,” said a traffic police officer, who asked not to be named.

In south Delhi traffic crawled on the Ring Road, Outer Ring Road, Barapullah elevated road, Mathura Road, Lala Lajpat Rai Marg, Aurobindo Marg, Bridagier Hoshiyar Singh Marg, Shri Jagganath Marg, Africa Avenue, Anuvrat Marg, Sant Shri Nagpal (SSN) Marg, Main Chhattarpur Road, Mehrauli-Gurugram (MG) Road, National Highway (NH)-48 via Mahipalpur, Guru Ravidas Marg, Hansraj Sethi Marg, Alakhnanda Road, Mehrauli-Badarpur (MB) Road and Maa Anandmayi Marg.

Traffic movement was almost at a standstill on roads around shopping hubs of Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar and Greater Kailash.

In central and north Delhi, bumper-to-bumper traffic was seen on roads adjoining Connaught Place, Karol Bagh, Gaffar Market, Janpath, Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar and Jama Masjid, with vehicles spilling over onto adjoining streets as motorists struggled to find parking spaces.

Transport hubs bustle with rush

Railway stations, interstate bus terminals and metro stations saw increased rush, adding to the traffic chaos despite the Delhi Traffic Police and other authorities concerned putting in place special arrangements to handle increased passenger flow for the festivals of Diwali, Bhai Dooj and Chhath.

Roads around the New Delhi and Old Delhi railway stations and bus terminals at Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan were clogged with buses, private vehicles, auto-rickshaws and taxis, leading to bottlenecks at multiple points.

Officials of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said the ridership has increased by 10-15% since Monday, hovering around the 8-million mark. On Monday, the ridership was 8.054 million, while it was 7.82 million on Thursday. Data for Friday was not available at the time of going to print, but officials estimate a ridership of over 8 million.

“Due to severe traffic congestion on roads, many people preferred using the Delhi Metro rail network for travelling. Friday being a working day and considering heavy footfall at commercial hubs for Dhanteras and Diwali shopping, a rise in the ridership is expected. Also, 40 extra trips have been added in the wake of Grap restrictions,” a DMRC official said.

Social media riddled with complaints

Office-goers faced an especially challenging commute in the morning as well as in the evening. During the evening peak hours, vehicles barely inched forward for over an hour.

Many took to social media to draw the attention of traffic police and other authorities towards the city’s traffic chaos. “There is endless jam on DND road. Going from Noida towards Delhi. Can you pls deploy some staff here to make the traffic move?,” a commuter posted on X.

Another commuter posted, “Bara Tooti Chowk, Sadar Bazar, Delhi-6 till Qutub Road Chowk is fully jammed and encroached illegally. Lots of two-wheelers and vehicles parked unauthorised on footpaths, leaving no place to walk. No crane being sent for enforcement.”

A senior police officer said deployment of traffic personnel was increased to handle the extra burden on roads and clear traffic jams. “We have been issuing updates and traffic advisory on social media regarding the prevailing situation and traffic diversions and restrictions on roads due to the festive rush,” the officer said.