Side-effect of BJP rally — traffic jams

It looked like two different Delhis altogether. The arterial roads of East, West and South Delhi and few connecting and radial roads in central Delhi were choc-a-bloc, resulting in huge traffic jams.

It looked like two different Delhis altogether.

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The arterial roads of East, West and South Delhi and few connecting and radial roads in central Delhi were choc-a-bloc, resulting in huge traffic jams.

On the other hand, there were people as far the eyes could see on roads around and leading to Ramlila Maidan, the venue of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) rally against spiralling prices on Wednesday.

BJP workers from across the country gathered at Ramlila Maidan in central Delhi and then marched to the Parliament.

“I hit a traffic jam as soon as I reached Shantivan. It took me almost two hours to reach my Connaught Place office,” said Sunil Chandela, a Geeta Colony (East Delhi) resident.

According to traffic police, complaints of traffic snarls started pouring in at 9 am.

“We had more than 300 personnel along the rally’s route and had diverted traffic at various points to ensure that vehicles kept moving,” said a senior traffic police officer.

Anticipating traffic jams, a large number of people left their vehicles behind and travelled by Metro. According to numbers provided by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, an additional 50,000 people travelled in its trains on Wednesday.

The organisers of the rally claimed more than 2.5 lakh people reached Delhi to participate.

But Delhi police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said, “There were about 55,000 people who gathered at the Ramlila Ground. Only 5,000 of them marched to Jantar Mantar in the afternoon. Traffic moved slow for some time but normalcy returned in the quickest possible time.”