Delhi roads choked due to traffic jams ahead of Diwali

Other parts of South Delhi also saw traffic congestion on Wednesday as Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, who is on a trip to India, visited Bharat Mandapam in the noon. Apart from South, gridlocked roads were reported in the central, south, east, northwest, outer and outer-north Delhi. People also shared pictures of traffic snarls showing vehicles standing still on major routes.

At Pragati Maidan, traffic complaints poured in as the stretch on Mathura road going towards east Delhi saw jams. Northwest Delhi also witnessed jam-packed stretches, as apart from the usual snarls on Outer Ring Road, Netaji Subhash Place and Madhuban Chowk in Pitampura also saw slow moving traffic. On the Delhi-Gurugram route, a 25-minute traffic halt was reported on a flyover on the NH-48. Roads near Jamia Millia Islamia saw some congestion too.

Senior police officers attributed the heavy traffic to the festive fervor, adding that office-goers honked up the roads in the morning hours, and then went to markets in the evening. Measures, however, have been taken to ensure that congestion could be minimised at choke points.

“Leaves of traffic police personnel have been cancelled. More than 2,000 personnel have been deployed on ground. Additional cranes have been deployed near Lajpat Nagar and Sarojini Nagar markets so that vehicles can be immediately removed from no-parking zones. Motorcycle patrolling has also been increased across the Capital,” Special Cp (Traffic) Ajay Chaudhary said.