E-Paper
Roads blocked, cabs barred, Metro closed: AI summit guests walk for kilometres
Several people who attended the AI summit said they were forced to walk for kilometres to find a cab, as the entry of cars outside Bharat Mandapam was barred
On the third day of the ongoing AI summit in Delhi, attendees faced a new challenge — the lack of proper transportation. Several people who attended the AI summit yesterday said they were forced to walk for kilometres after the event to find a cab, as the entry of vehicles on the roads outside Bharat Mandapam was barred for VIP movement. Many took to social media to complain about the mismanagement.
“No cabs, no pre-arranged shuttle”
Caleb Friesen, a Canadian national who has lived in India for the past eight years, said he had a great time at the India AI Impact Summit yesterday, but all the positives were overshadowed by one negative experience towards the end.
When Friesen exited Bharat Mandapam around 7:40pm, he realised there were no cabs or shuttles. Instead, he was told to take a hike — almost literally.
“No cabs, no pre-arranged shuttle. ‘Road is closed, go for a walk’,” Friesen wrote on X.
He pointed out that this mismanagement would have negatively impacted India’s image in front of international visitors, not to mention the way it would inconvenience the differently-abled.
“Roads blocked. Cops not allowing cabs”
Friesen’s experience was echoed by several others who attended the high-profile summit yesterday. Activist Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj said that not only were roads closed and cabs barred, even the nearby metro station was shut down.
“Cousin from US is attending #AISummit. Has been trying to book a cab since 8pm to come home. No luck yet,” she wrote on X last night. “Roads blocked. Cops not allowing Cabs. Near by Metro station closed.”
The entry of cabs near Bharat Mandapam was barred despite the offical page of the India AI Impact Summit earlier advising guests to take cabs due to limited parking at the venue.
It is not clear for how long cabs were not allowed outside the venue.
“Walked almost 5kms”
Sahil Rajput said he was forced to walk 5 kilometres after attending the AI summit, just so he could book a cab.
“Govt has blocked all the gates and road and asking people to walk just because some VIP is coming. People are walking since 6pm and at all check points police is saying this is blocked,” he wrote on X, calling it a management failure.
Motorcyclists cross divider
The traffic chaos caused by the AI summit was such that some frustrated motorcyclists were filmed crossing a road divider just to escape the jam.
The video was shared on X by a developer named Piyush, who saw it happen after walking 6km outside the AI Impact Summit venue.
“You get out of the AI summit, walk 6km to reach a place from where you can get a transport to go home, because there's some VIP movement,” he wrote on X.
“While on the way, you watch people walking for kilometers clueless (we were one of them), you watch people break the cement divider to go on the other side of the road, because they are stuck in the traffic for God knows how many hours…” Piyush wrote.
