Delhi crawls to a standstill

Shah Rukh Khan’s Auto Expo showing and the closure of half the carriageway at Connaught Place for the construction of new subways brought traffic to a crawl on Wednesday.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Auto Expo showing and the closure of half the carriageway at Connaught Place for the construction of new subways brought traffic to a crawl on Wednesday.

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All roads to and from Pragati Maidan, the car show venue, and CP remained clogged till evening. During peak morning hours, the jams extended all the way to the Uttar Pradesh border in the east. A 15-minute drive stretched to two hours.

“I was forced to abandon my car and take the Metro to my Barakhamba Road office,” said Deepshikha Pandey, who lives in Ghaziabad.

The traffic police blamed it on the Auto Expo. “The India Trade Promotion Organisation was to open the Auto Expo to the public from 9th to 11th but opened it today without informing us,” special commissioner of police (traffic) Ajay Chadha said.

At CP too, there was chaos. “There were cars everywhere and no space to drive,” said Ram Kumar (28), who was also headed for Barakhamba Road.

“The system will stabilise in 2-3 days,” Chadha said.