Traffic affected in central Delhi for third day on the trot due to Cong protests

On Tuesday, besides the Congress protest, the conclusion of Kanwar Yatra also impacted traffic, police said.

Traffic remained affected in central Delhi for the third consecutive day on Wednesday on account of protests by Congress party workers, who agitated against the continued questioning of their party chief Sonia Gandhi by the enforcement directorate (ED) in a money laundering case related to the National Herald newspaper.

Members of Indian Youth Congress and NSUI being detained by Delhi Police during a protest against ED’s summon to Sonia Gandhi in connection with the National Herald Case, at AICC Headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT) (HT_PRINT)

Delhi traffic police shared regular updates and advisories on social media to ensure that commuters avoided certain routes. One such alert said, “Kindly avoid Motilal Nehru Marg, Akbar Road, Janpath, Man Singh Road, Gol Methi junction, Tughlak Road Junction, Claridges Junction, Q-point Junction, Sunehri Masjid Junction, Maulana Azad Road Junction and Man Singh Road Junction between 9am and 2pm on July 27 due to special traffic arrangements.”

In another advisory, police asked commuters to avoid Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg as well on Wednesday. “Movement of traffic on DDU Marg on both the carriageways from Minto Road towards ITO and vice versa is closed due to today’s protest/demonstration. Commuters are advised to avoid this stretch,” the traffic police tweeted.

The Delhi Police, meanwhile, detained several Congress workers and members of Parliament (MPs) including Manish Tewari and Jairam Ramesh while they were holding a protest at Vijay Chowk. They were all taken to Kingsway Camp and later allowed to go. On Tuesday, too, Delhi Police had detained 259 persons, including 57 MPs besides former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.

On Tuesday, besides the Congress protest, the conclusion of Kanwar Yatra also impacted traffic, police said.

As kanwariyas returning to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana had to make their way through Delhi, traffic was severely affected in the eastern part of the city, including Apsara border, National Highway 24, Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Chilla border, Mayur Vihar, Anand Vihar, and Kalindi Kunj, among other areas.

These areas remained slightly affected on Wednesday as well because kanwars could still be seen returning and arrangements made for them were still not removed from roadsides.