Police drive to check vehicles chokes arteries, triggers jams

The Capital came to a standstill on Thursday evening after the Delhi police barricaded various important roads to check vehicles.

The Capital came to a standstill on Thursday evening after the Delhi police barricaded various important roads to check vehicles.

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The police, which came in for a lot of flak after the rape of the 23-year-old woman on a bus, decided to barricade parts of roads at ITO, Lodhi Road, Moolchand and Patel Road.

Since the barricading started around 7.30 pm, when office-goers generally return, commuters were stuck for hours.

The traffic police control room received many calls for help as the commuters were caught unaware.

The officer on duty said south Delhi had come to a standstill with Mathura Road jampacked with vehicles.

"We have also received complaints from people stuck on Ring Road," he said.

The barricading was on for the last few days to avoid a repeat of the rape incident and according to police it will continue in the coming days as well.

Bithika Dutta who was going home to Malviya Nagar said that she was stuck on Lodi Road for 45 minutes.

It usually takes just two minutes to cross the stretch. "At first, I thought some accident must have taken place since both sides of the carriageway were jampacked. Later on, a police personnel told me that they are checking vehicles to make Delhi safer," she said. Bithika finally reached home at 10.15pm, 45 minutes after she left office.

Prashant Kumar, a businessman from Connaught Place, said that on his way home to Mayur Vihar, he was stuck for 40 minutes at ITO.

"The police chose the wrong time to barricade roads. This is peak hour and people are returning home from offices. They are trying to nab rapists by troubling everyone," he said.