Traffic crawls, roads choke on Summit VIP movement

Huge jams brought the city’s traffic to a standstill on the final day of the India-Africa summit on Thursday. The three-day-long event because of which arterial roads around the summit venue was closed wreaked havoc for commuters as vehicles moved at a snail’s pace.

The city witnessed similar scenes on Wednesday evening when traffic crawled on most arterial roads during the evening rush hour.

On Thursday, areas around Ashram intersection, Dhaula Kuan, Lodhi Road, South Extension, Lajpat Nagar, Kalkaji and Maharani Bagh were the worst hit by the jams.

The Ashram intersection where the condition of traffic movement has already been affected because of the ongoing Metro construction and road repair, spillover from the jam worsened the situation. No traffic official was seen to man the traffic movement.

Commuters were stuck for hours and even the service roads and colony roads were packed with vehicles as people tried to wriggle out of the jams.

“I got stuck in the traffic near the Ashram flyover in the evening and was delayed in reaching an important meeting. To avoid the traffic, I had to take shortcuts through some lanes but even that did not help,” said Saurabh Sinha, an MNC employee.

Sardar Patel Marg, Teen Murti Marg, Akbar Road, Tees January Marg, Rajesh Pilot Marg, Subramaniam Bharti Marg, Mathura Road, Bhairon Marg, Ring Road between Bhairon Marg and Raj Ghat, Power House Road leading to IGI Stadium (the venue of the summit) remained closed for the general traffic movement in phases.

In the morning, vehicles were diverted from the Moti Bagh flyover, Dhaula Kuan and ITO were diverted, causing major delays. In the evening, the India Gate roundabout was clogged as several radial roads were closed. This was the situation till late Thursday evening.

“We had issued advisories and appealed to people to avoid the central and New Delhi area and the periphery of India Gate, in the wake of the summit. We had advised the people in advance that the movement of VIPs will hamper general traffic movement. We had made ample arrangements and our officers were deployed to help commuters,” said Muktesh Chander, special commissioner of police (traffic).

Social media websites were flooded with commuter complaints and some others alerting people about the unending jams.

“I left my office in Connaught Place by 5pm and it took me an hour to cross the ITO signal. For over 45 minutes I was standing exactly where I was and it was frustrating. People were actually getting out of their cars and taking strolls,” said Shivam Kumar, a commuter.

On Wednesday too since most of the force was engaged in enabling VIP movement, many traffic heavy intersections were clogged and no traffic official was present to assist traffic movement. Not just main roads but the colony roads were also clogged.