South Delhi snarls go on, cops try to contain chaos

The jam extended from 800 metres to 1 kilometre from Chirag Delhi flyover to Savitri flyover and Nehru apartments. Traffic was slow due to increased stopping time at Josip Broz Tito Marg signal.

Vehicles continued to crawl on the Outer Ring Road near Nehru Place due to the closure of one carriageway on the Chirag Delhi flyover even as traffic police deployed additional personnel and cranes to manage traffic and deal with breakdowns.

Traffic jam at Chirag Delhi flyover in New Delhi on Tuesday. (HT Photo)

During a spot check in the morning rush hour on Tuesday, HT found that the jam extended from 800 metres to 1 kilometre from Chirag Delhi flyover to Savitri flyover and Nehru apartments. Also, traffic was moving slow due to increased stopping time at the signal on Josip Broz Tito Marg.

Public Works Department (PWD) minister Atishi on Tuesday held a review meeting with senior officials and directed that the repair work on the flyover should be completed “within a month”, instead of the current 50-day deadline. PWD is fixing the expansion joints on the flyover and has shut one carriageway -- from Nehru Place to IIT -- for 25 days. Once completed, the opposite carriageway will be shut for repairs for the next 25 days.

According to an officials statement, the minister will conduct regular review and asked officials to prepare daily progress reports.

Commuters, however, sought more measures to resolve the problem.

Kuldeep Tyagi, a commuter headed towards Hauz Khas, said traffic diversions and road blocks are in place across the city. “Metro construction is going on at Mehrauli Badarpur Road, Chrag Dilli flyover is closed on Outer Ring Road, the mess at Ashram Chowk is yet to be fully resolved, and now even NH 48 is being closed. Will this mess stop anytime soon,” Tyagi said.

Others suggested that schools in the adjacent areas should be shut to ease jams especially during morning and afternoon. Manful Dagar, who often travels through the area, said that the repair work should have been postponed till the board examinations were over. “It is insensitive to impose additional stress on children. People do not know for how long they might be stuck in this mess,” he added.

A Twitter user, Sriniwas Chidambaram, vent his ire on social media. “Thousands of children in nearby localities commuting for board exams are put to extreme stress by closure of the Chirag Dilli flyover. Staggering insensitivity on the part of authorities! Request to consider relief to move to late April,” he tweeted, tagging the Delhi lieutenant governor.

Kajal Saroha, who was headed towards Mahipalpur, said that the traffic police should increase the green signal time for the straight moving traffic. “Right now, it is being opened for merely 30-40 seconds while the closure time is over two minutes. When there is such a large pile-up of vehicles towards Nehru Place, longer green signal will help ease congestion,” Saroha said.

A traffic police official deputed on the site said that the number of personnel and traffic marshals has gone up with people being requisitioned from other areas such as Mehrauli. “The traffic light is being operated manually to prevent the vehicle build up. All adjacent stretches has at least two personnel to prevent people from stopping or idling around the carriageway,” the official added. However, HT saw many two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws moving in the wrong direction to escape the mess under the intersection.

In fact, jams are now leading to spill over traffic inside Greater Kailash. Mohammad Saleem, a cab driver, said that it took him 20-25 minutes to get out of the Greater Kailash W-block and reach Masjid Moth. “If the situation continues like time in the coming days, auto-rickshaws and cabs start refusing to ply in the area,” he said.

Sanjay Rana, general secretary of Greater Kailash-2 residents welfare association, said the locals have been trapped inside. “For going to Saket, I was forced to take a detour from Savitri-Archana complex, Siri Fort and Panchsheel, but it still took me an hour to cover the distance. Normally, it would take me 10-15 minutes to cover the same distance via BRT. Traffic jams are everywhere. It is now spilling on to the colony roads,” he added.