New Delhi: Delhi-NCR’s roads have turned into a gridlocked mess as Diwali shopping fever has taken over the capital, and Friday’s chaos is a testament to just how under-prepared the city really is when it comes to festive crowds.
From the busy markets of Lajpat Nagar to the choked Moolchand Flyover, vehicles crawled, commuters were stranded and there was anger at the lack of traffic cops.
At one point, tensions grew so high when two ambulances — including one transporting a four-day-old baby with a severe heart condition — were caught in the snarl for hours that lives were put at risk. Central, South, East, Northwest, Outer and North Outer Delhi were most affected, leading to a crawl on the Ring Road. Gurgaon also buckled under the weight of weekend and festive traffic, with highways as well as inner lanes clogged for almost 4 km, blocking routes to and from Delhi.
Addl CP Dinesh K Gupta vouched for the police’s efforts, saying maximum personnel had been deployed, including motorcycle patrols and on-the-spot fines that were handed out to vehicles found parked illegally. “We have already implemented traffic advisory schemes for areas such as Sarojini Nagar, Lajpat Nagar and Connaught Place with designated parking spaces,” Gupta told reporters. But commuters fumed, asking how much use such measures were if the cars accumulated unchecked.
It is that time of the year when, with Diwali round the corner, NCR’s infrastructure mumbles and stumbles under the weight of shoppers and homeward-bound travellers. Can Delhi’s traffic machine rise to meet the challenge, or will holiday cheer continue to languish in a honking, smog-filled mire? Authorities are under increasing pressure to unravel this mess before the party turns sour.