Massive traffic woes in Delhi-NCR as kanwariyas take over roads

Traffic across Delhi and NCR was severely hit on Wednesday due to the movement of Kanwariyas along the arterial roads in Gurugram and Delhi. In the national capital, proceedings of the Delhi Assembly was delayed after Speaker Ram Niwas Goel reportedly got stuck in a traffic jam.

Traffic across Delhi and NCR was severely hit on Wednesday due to the movement of Kanwariyas along the arterial roads in Gurugram and Delhi. In the national capital, the proceedings of Delhi Assembly was delayed on Wednesday after Speaker Ram Niwas Goel reportedly got stuck in a traffic jam.

The Delhi-Gurgaon expressway in Gurugram witnessed heavy congestion on Wednesday evening, as Kanwariyas passing through the city hampered vehicular movement from 4 pm onwards. (Yogendra Kumar/HT Photo)

Goel, who was travelling to the Delhi Assembly from Shahdara, was delayed after getting caught in a jam on a stretch between Shastri Park and Seelampur in east Delhi. Meanwhile, the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway in Gurugram witnessed heavy congestion on Wednesday evening, as Kanwariyas passing through the city hampered vehicular movement from 4 pm onwards.

Traffic police officials said that the situation improved significantly by 6pm, after the flow of Kanwariyas reduced.

Delhi bore the brunt of the spillover of Gurugram’s traffic jams with vehicular traffic coming to a standstill on many stretches. Traffic police officials said they were also forced to close portions of certains roads to accommodate Kanwar movement which further added to the chaos.

“Additional deployment was made along arterial roads so that movement of traffic was not disrupted. The safety of the Kanwars was our priority,” said a senior traffic official.

As per Gurugram traffic police officials, the problem started after a sudden rush of Kanwariyas started entering the city from Delhi around 3.30pm. Many of them, police said, were travelling on trucks that moved at a slow pace, and led to one lane of the Delhi-Gurgaon carriageway, heading towards Jaipur, being completely blocked.

Commuters complained that their schedules went for a toss as a result of the traffic congestion.

“I had left IFFCO Chowk around 4.30pm to ensure that I was not caught in rush hour traffic. To my surprise, there was heavy congestion from exit number 9 itself. As a result, it took me 90 minutes to reach Civil Lines,” Bhanu Sharma, a resident of Civil Lines said.