Traffic jams leave New Delhi motorists fuming

NEW DELHI — Traffic movement in many areas in the capital was hit yesterday with commuters getting stuck in jams even during off-peak hours around noon and late afternoon. The traffic police Facebook page was flooded with angry comments from motorists.

While vehicles were literally crawling in south Delhi's Dhaula Kuan area around 11 am, both carriageways of Aurobindo Marg, also in south Delhi, were closed for traffic from morning till 4.30 pm due to a procession.

"It took me three hours to reach Green Park from Dwarka whereas normally it's a 45-minute ride," said consultant Krishna Kumar, who started from his home in Dwarka at 10.30 am and reached his destination at 1 pm.

Vishal, a private firm executive, said: "The traffic was really bad between South Extension and Hauz Khas around 4 pm and it took me 45 minutes to reach Hauz Khas whereas it is normally just a 15-minute run by car."

A stretch of the Outer Ring Road near Savitri Cinema in south Delhi, where an underground pipe was repaired recently, also saw snarls.

The "condition is really bad, just like the way it was even when you guys claim it's fixed", said road user Sean Sandhu, in a comment posted on Delhi Traffic Police's Facebook account.

Commuters coming to Delhi from satellite towns like Gurgaon, too, were caught in tailbacks. "Where does all this traffic come from? It's a killer jam on road to airport," said Diya Kapoor on the police Facebook page.

Traffic police attributed no specific reason for the jams seen on some roads through the day. “There is no particular reason. The traffic jam on Ring Road and Sarita Vihar was in the peak hours," said an official of traffic helpline. — IANS