Get ready for five-day traffic nightmare

Be prepared for a five-day traffic gridlock starting Saturday morning.

Be prepared for a five-day traffic gridlock starting Saturday morning.

HT Image

The Delhi Traffic Police will divert trucks and commercial vehicles entering the city through Narela in the north-west of the city, Ghaziabad in the east and Faridabad in the south-west to Dhaula Kuan in the south.

The trucks normally use the outer Ring Road to travel, but a 10km part of that has been made out of bounds because of a Congress plenary session in Burari on the north-western outskirts of the city. The session is expected to be attended by thousands of Congress workers as well as the top leadership of the party.

“A special notification has been issued by the state transport department for the three-day meeting and all heavy transport vehicles (HTVs) will be diverted through Dhaula Kuan,” said a senior police officer requesting anonymity. Violators will have to pay a Rs 2,000 fine.

Thanks to this notification, more than 3.5 lakh HTVs will end up choking some of the arterial roads from morning till evening starting early Saturday morning till Wednesday night.

This is the second time traffic movement has been curtailed by a government notification, the first time being during the Commonwealth Games when “Games lanes” were created to ferry foreign athletes.

While Dhuala Kuan and Ashram will be worst hit, the other areas likely to be affected are Rajouri Garden and Punjabi Bagh in west Delhi and Nizamuddin bridge connecting east Delhi to the south-east.

Joint Commissioner of Police (traffic) Satyendra Garg refused to comment on the issue.

Roads to avoid