900 weddings bring traffic to a crawl on Delhi-Gurgaon e-way
GURUGRAM: Due to a high number of marriages taking place across the National Capital Region (NCR) on Monday, traffic along the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway was badly affected Monday evening. According to the police, Monday saw approximately 900 weddings taking place in Gurugram and 150 along the expressway.
The period between 6 pm and 7 pm in the evening saw the heaviest volume of traffic along the expressway, especially on the six-km-long stretch between Atlas Chowk and Dwarka Exit Number 20.
“The volume of traffic on the expressway was heavier than usual, as the wedding traffic coupled with peak-hour traffic led to snarls. Congestion was reported near wedding banquet halls across the city. Due to arrangements made by the police beforehand, traffic kept on moving as officials did not allow vehicles to park on the sides of the roads,” said Hira Singh, assistant commissioner of police (highways). Officials said that congestion started to ease after 7 pm.
“We had been getting calls since 5.30pm about heavy congestion on the expressway. Traffic was extremely heavy till 7 pm but started receding thereafter. However, there was more traffic on Monday than it is on a weekday,” said an official at the control room of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Regular commuters between Delhi and Gurugram also corroborated the official statement, complaining that it took them 20-25 minutes longer to cross the expressway. “I was stuck between Shankar Chowk, Sirhaul toll plaza and Dwarka Exit Number 20 for more than 80 minutes. With a large number of banquets halls being located on the Link Road (the arterial road leading to Dwarka from the expressway).