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Lakhs of New Year revellers gridlock India Gate, spark traffic jams
Motorists were caught in a massive traffic jams around India Gate as revellers spilled on the roads around New Delhi’s iconic landmark.
Lakhs of revellers thronged India Gate to celebrate the new year and triggered major traffic snarls around the heart of Delhi Wednesday evening.
The Delhi Metro closed entry and exit gates at five stations around India Gate in the evening for an hour to ease rush of passengers on the first day of the year.
On Tuesday also, the Delhi Metro had restricted exit from the busy Rajiv Chowk metro station after 9 pm in anticipation of a huge crowd on new year’s eve.
Watch | Delhi: New Year fest, CAA protest at India Gate cause massive traffic jam
The capital’s landmark monument also drew hordes of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters who took a mass pledge to defend the Constitution by opposing the amended citizenship law.
The combination of protesters and visitors to India Gate to celebrate the New Year, led to a massive crowd around the iconic monument that brought traffic to a painful crawl in adjoining areas.
A motorist caught in one of the traffic jams tweeted his nightmare to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
“#delhitraffic CM sir ryt below ur poster of acche beete 5 saal we hav mor than 2km long traffic jam on the ever busy ring road. Please help sir, its a faded&weak sunshine on d 1st day, loads of vehicular pollution. @ArvindKejriwal (sic).” Chayan Gera tweeted.
Traffic gridlock also hit the Mathura Road after a large number of people visited the zoo.
The traffic police took to Twitter to advise people coming from Noida to take DND or Akshardham to reach Delhi since road no. 13A between Mathura Road and Kalindi Kunj was closed for traffic movement.
Vehicular movement was affected in North Delhi due to the breakdown of a truck on Prembari flyover, it said in one of its tweets.
“Traffic movement is closed on Jai Singh road from Ashok road side due to heavy volume of vehicles,” it said in another tweet.
The police also warned that traffic will remain heavy from Raja Garden towards Punjabi Bagh due to ongoing work by PWD. It advised motorists to avoid the stretch.
