Traffic congestion on Delhi-Ggm e-way for over 11 hrs after vehicle catches fire

The police said it took several hours to park the vehicle on the side of the road to allow commuters a clear passage, with the blockade having a knock-on effect on traffic, said police.

Traffic was disrupted on the airport-bound carriageway of the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway for over 11 hours on Saturday after an earth-mover caught fire near Mahipalpur, the police said.

Traffic congestion on Delhi-Gurugram border near Sirhaul toll plaza, in Gurugram, on Saturday. (Vipin Kumar/HT)

The police reported a major traffic pile-up between Sirhaul border and Mahipalpur in Delhi, with several commuters tweeting that they missed their flights, even as the situation forced airlines to issue alerts to passengers several hours in advance. The tail-back stretched as far as 13km, a Gurugram traffic police officer said.

The hydraulic machine caught fire around 6am, just before the airport’s Terminal 3. The police said it took several hours to park the vehicle on the side of the road to allow commuters a clear passage, with the blockade having a knock-on effect on traffic, said police.

Delhi’s special commissioner of police (traffic) Virender Singh Chahal said of the four lanes, one was completely blocked because of the crane, which could not be removed using any other crane.

“An engineer from Mumbai has been called in to repair the crane and help remove it from the road. Traffic is moving in three lanes and only one is affected. Traffic movement will be restored in all the lanes as soon as the crane is removed,” the special CP said on Saturday evening.

Several Twitter users responded to this, claiming that no police personnel were at the spot to regulate the flow of traffic. Traffic police officers, however, said that nearly 50 personnel from IGI and Vasant Kunj traffic circles were deployed on the highway to ensure the flow of traffic.

A few users also said they missed their flights because of the snarl.

Reyansh Kumar, who works with a multi-national company in Bengaluru, missed his 3.30pm flight on Saturday. “I was told it will only take half an hour to reach the airport, but it took nearly three-and-a-half hours,” he said.

Rajdeep Kar, in a tweet at 9.34pm, also said he missed his flight. “Dear @airvistara, missed the UK 809 DEL - BLR flight scheduled at 19:50 hrs. If this was already known, then I think @airvistara should have personally updated the travellers by text/mail beforehand. Not everyone can come to know through Twitter,” he wrote, tagging the Twitter handles of the Gurugram traffic police and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Vistara had issued an advisory on social media, asking passengers to arrive early at the Delhi airport. “#ImportantUpdate: Heavy traffic congestion and slow vehicle movement expected on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway. Passengers coming from Gurugram are advised to allow more time for their journey to the Delhi airport,” the airline tweeted at around 1 pm.

Isha Tyagi, a resident of Ardee City in Sector 52 said that she had to visit a temple in East Delhi to offer prayers on Saturday. “I left home around 10.30am and got stuck in the traffic jam at Sirhaul border. It took three hours to reach Mahipalpur and the ride was one of the most painful as we had organised a ritual and it got delayed. Our guests had to wait for us and all the arrangements had to be redone. The situation was bad and the entire traffic had come to a standstill on the stretch,” she said.

Gurugram police commissioner Kala Ramachandran, in a statement on Saturday said, “In order to minimise inconvenience to the public, the Gurugram traffic police diverted traffic at multiple places, starting from Panchgaon, where traffic was diverted to the Kundli–Manesar–Palwal Expressway, MG Road, Udyog Vihar and Dundahera Border... Later in the evening, vehicles started to move in two lanes.”

Devinder Singh, a resident of Dwarka in Delhi, said that he had come to Gurugram on Saturday morning for a get-together over breakfast in Sector 29 and got stuck on the expressway for over three hours while returning. “I had no idea regarding the congestion on the stretch. Congestion is reported during peak hours every day but being Saturday, I thought the route will be all clear and took the straight route. Else I would have driven towards Kapashera border,” he said.

Hundreds of commuters also took a detour towards Udyog Vihar via Kapashera to reach Delhi, said police.

Police had set up barricades at Shankar Chowk and all the areas from where routes were diverted, said police.