Lanes shut from Thursday

Giving Delhi’s drivers a three-day breather, traffic police will shut down dedicated lanes on all roads leading to Commonwealth Games venues from Thursday and not Monday as scheduled earlier.

Giving Delhi’s drivers a three-day breather, traffic police will shut down dedicated lanes on all roads leading to Commonwealth Games venues from Thursday and not Monday as scheduled earlier.

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The reason: Due to the heavy rain and the condition of roads, shutting down one lane on 37 major roads will lead to more chaos. Besides, many of the lanes are yet to be marked with the trademark blue patches. Also, the police are waiting for the transport department to notify the provision of imposing a Rs 2,000 fine on motorists who enter the dedicated lanes.

“We have asked the civic agencies to repair the roads. If they don’t do it in the next three days, we will be forced to enforce lane driving on bad roads,” said Delhi traffic chief Ajay Chadha. “The notification on the Rs 2,000 fine has also not been done. And in some places, lane marking is yet to be completed.” He added: “We are expecting it (the notification) by Thursday.”

Athletes have started landing in the city but the police say the big delegations will start coming in only from Thursday.
While bidding for the Games in 2003, Delhi had promised to reserve one lane on roads for participants and officials. “The lanes are almost ready; athletes won’t face any problems,” said OC spokesman Lalit Bhanot.