Bar council elections choke city roads
NEW DELHI: Commuting in Delhi was a nightmare on Saturday as scores of lawyers gathered around the high court for the Bar Council of Delhi elections.
With Sher Shah Suri Marg in central Delhi shut for the elections, there was a massive spill over of traffic in the adjoining areas including India Gate’s C-Hexagon. Efforts of the traffic police personnel present at the spot failed to yield any result as hundreds of lawyers thronged the area.
On the carriageway opposite Purana Qila and going towards ITO, lawyers put up booths right next to the road. Each booth had at least a dozen lawyers and some cars parked, thereby obstructing majority of the arterial road. Commuters rued that lawyers parked their cars all along Mathura Road, Bhairon Marg and stretches around India Gate which left only a narrow space for the city’s traffic.
Traffic expert, PK Sarkar, who is also director (transportation) at Asian Institute of Transport Development was one among the thousands of commuters who was stuck in traffic.
“What really is the need of the hour is a virtual messaging system which would inform a motorist in a four-kilometre radius about the traffic situation. This has been pending since the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Besides, there should be a dedicated radio channel for traffic updates,” he said.
Sarkar also suggested that a traffic management control centre be set up to take traffic-related decisions to ease congested roads.
Ankur Rawat, a resident near Sunder Nagar, said it took him an hour and a half to reach his office in IP Extension. “It was a terrible experience as the lawyers behaved as if they owned the road. None of them seemed to be listening to the policemen deputed there. It was as if the lawyers thought they are above the law,” Rawat said, who added that Saturday was the second day of the “chaos”.
The traffic snarls, however, did not remain limited to central
› ...the lawyers behaved as if they owned the road. None of them seemed to be listening to the policemen deputed there. It was as if the lawyers thought they are above the law. ANKUR RAWAT, a commuter
Delhi; south Delhi was equally choked as civil works on the Moolchand flyover forced the traffic to crawl further. The impact of this went up to Ashram Chowk and beyond.
A number of angry motorists took to social media to vent out their anger. “Traffic near high court disrupted due to Delhi bar council elections. Stuck on Mathura Road for over an hour now. Office is just 4km away. #DelhiTraffic,” posted Afan on Twitter.
Another commuter, Meha Mathur tweeted, “Bar council of delhi polls happening on footpath bang opposite zoo. Holding traffic on busy route to ransom. Who gives them the licence to harass commuters?”
Indraprastha Marg too faced unusual traffic as thousands of workers of the Congress party thronged the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium for the Congress’s plenary session.
“The traffic jams & discomfort caused by the congress plenary session would ensure them a loss of a million votes. Stupid,” said one Ramesh Menon on Twitter.