Traffic snarls leave Delhi commuters hassled

Traffic police officers said that Friday’s jams were likely due to repair works and renovations, broken down vehicles and damaged water pipelines.

Commuters on Friday complained of slower moving traffic than usual at multiple stretches in the national capital, particularly in south, south-west and central regions from morning to evening.

Vehicles stuck in a traffic jam near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI)

While slow traffic is often witnessed in the morning due to office hours, traffic police officers said that Friday’s jams were likely due to repair works and renovations, broken down vehicles and damaged water pipelines. Another major contributor could possibly be the ongoing CBSE board examinations, the officials added.

Areas reporting congestion included Mahipalpur, Vasant Kunj, Pragati Maidan, Mehrauli, Jhandewalan, Chanakyapuri, Lala Lajpat Nagar Marg, the Pragati Maidan-India Gate Tunnel, and on flyovers such as Barapulla and Defence Colony.

“There was complete chaos on the road from Mahipalpur to Vasant Kunj. The work (repair) here never seems to end,” said Amit Dubey, who complained that it took him thrice the usual time to get to work.

Other commuters said that road renovation works such as painting of zebra crossings and other signages during peak hours also led to traffic jams. “These works should be carried out at nights when there are fewer vehicles on the roads,” said Ved Pandey, who said he faced jams on at least two stretches between Vasant Kunj and Lodhi Road due to the road work.

Traffic officers said that similar work by the Delhi Jal Board and the Public Works Department triggered jams on the Mehrauli-Chhatarpur Road and Defence Colony Flyover respectively, a broken down car impacted movement of vehicles on the Barapulla Flyover and a broken pipeline affected traffic in Jhandewalan.

Saurabh Chandra, deputy commissioner of traffic police for the southern range, said that civic works being carried out affected traffic in some areas. “The civic agencies are carrying out some works ahead of the G20 Summit, which caused inconvenience to motorists,” said Chandra, but added that the jams were not unusually massive.

On Lajpat Nagar and Barapulla flyovers , motorists had to take to Twitter to draw the attention of traffic officers to ambulances stuck for long periods. “We responded to calls about jams by deploying additional staff at the affected stretches,” said a traffic officer.

A senior traffic police officer said that there was also the movement of the Prime Minister’s convoy in the morning, but movement of public vehicles was not stopped.

Traffic is likely to be affected in parts of central Delhi over the next three days due to few events, police officers said.

RP Meena, deputy commissioner of police (central traffic), said, “Jams reported from central Delhi were largely due to movement of students and their parents in school hours. We deployed additional personnel wherever necessary.”

Saurabh Chandra, deputy commissioner of traffic police for the southern range, said that civic works being carried out affected traffic in some areas. “The civic agencies are carrying out some works in some stretches ahead of the G20 Summit, which caused inconvenience to motorists at some stretches,” said Chandra, adding that the jams still weren’t unusually very high.