Mathura Road sees worst traffic jam

It was a traffic nightmare in Delhi and NCR on Friday. Rain, bad roads, VIP movement and non-functional traffic lights wreaked havoc on city roads.

It was a traffic nightmare in Delhi and NCR on Friday. Rain, bad roads, VIP movement and non-functional traffic lights wreaked havoc on city roads.

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Mathura Road leading to Faridabad saw one of its worst jams ever. The 15-kilometre stretch was clogged with vehicles and nothing moved till late evening. Roads leading to Noida and Faridabad were badly blocked.

Noida police blamed a huge pothole on the Kalindi Kunj road for a massive pile-up of vehicles. This, coupled with the entry of trucks and the main Faridabad road being partially closed for the movement of Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to Delhi, affected vehicular movement for hours.

"We had to stop traffic for some time to facilitate the movement of the chief minister. A four-wheeler broke down on the road that caused the jam," said Ram Krishna, ACP traffic, Faridabad.

Delhi's joint commissioner of police (traffic) Satyendra Garg said the bad condition of the road as well as breakdown of several heavy vehicles on the Kalindi Kunj route led to a huge traffic jam that stretched till Nizamuddin.

"We deployed dedicated teams to clear the jam. But the condition of the road is such that regulation of traffic became very difficult," he said.

Commuters in other parts of the city also had to face long traffic jams due to waterlogged roads.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which is responsible for cleaning most storm water drains in the city, received 46 complaints of waterlogging at its central control room between 3 pm on Thursday and 3 pm on Friday.

In addition, eight complaints of fallen trees and three complaints of building parts collapsing were also received by the civic agency.

Areas affected by waterlogging included Mathura Road, Ashram, Outer Ring Road, Moolchand flyover, Sarai Julena, Okhla Phase I, Iskon Temple Road, Srinivaspuri, Opposite LNJP Hospital, Turkman Gate Chowk, Kirpal Bagh, Barfkhana Chowk, Kalyan Vihar, Rana Pratap Bagh among others.

In addition, slow traffic movement was seen at several stretches owing to breaking down of buses and other
vehicles.

To make matters worse, a number of streetlights on various stretches, including the stretch from the Oberoi flyover to Bhogal on Mathura Road, weren't functioning.

The civic agency still maintains that it has cleaned all the drains that come under its jurisdiction and the problem has only compounded due to lack of co-ordination between various agencies.

"The drains from unauthorised areas which are maintained by the Delhi government have not been cleaned; they are the main reason for the mess," said a senior MCD official.