Police strike: Traffic snarls across city
NEW DELHI: Delhi Police was operating at its lowest capacity on Tuesday as more than 10,000 police personnel rebelled against their own top leadership, in search of solidarity from the PHQ. As a result, commuters coming to or from all adjoining cities in the National Capital Region including Noida, Gurugram and Ghaziabad saw extreme traffic crunches at entry points into Delhi, with a meagre number of Delhi Police personnel present at their posts to control and direct the situation.
While this is the first time that Delhi Police officials have taken a stand to protest for what they believe is right, people all across the NCR faced a slew of traffic situations, with many areas choked up due to protesting police personnel and a lot of major crossings flashing orange lights due to the absence of traffic police to control the signal.
The Delhi Traffic Police had notified members of the public early in the day that "Traffic Movement is closed in the carriageway from ITO towards Laxmi Nagar. Motorist are [sic] advised to use Delhi Gate & Raj Ghat." This was in connection with more than 1,000 police officials who were protesting outside the headquarters both in plainclothes and uniforms.
In fact, a lot of motorists took to Twitter during the day, with complaints of lock-jams in the heart of the city. One social media user said that the protest had to a certain extent undone the intended effect of the Oddeven rule that came into effect from Monday because there were not enough personnel to enforce the law. He tweeted, "Stuck at Pragati maidan since last one hour in never ending traffic jams...no policemen could be seen...benefit of Oddeven UNDONE..."
Other parts of the city also saw members of the public complaining about no traffic police personnel being present to handle crucial situations. One Twitter user said that there was "huge chaos/jam at Nanaksir, Wazirabad and Nehru Vihar" and that there was no traffic police available to help the fire brigade van stuck in the area.
While the Delhi Traffic Police Twitter handle continually addressed people's issues on the social media platform, the entire police force in the city was extremely understaffed to handle the situation.