While driving on Mehrauli-Badarpur road, the stretch near Saket Metro station is a nightmare that almost every commuter dreads. No matter what time of the day is it, every hour is “peak hour” on this stretch with the traffic density significantly increasing as one approaches the Saket Metro Station from either side.

One of the major problems on this stretch is haphazard parking of auto-rickshaws outside Saket Metro Station. While the Delhi Traffic Police has made efforts to push some of the auto-rickshaws into an enclosure on the side of the road, but the number of autos that have mushroomed on this particular spot is simply mind-boggling.

“We keep removing these auto-rickshaws from here but they keep coming back,” said a traffic official.

Commuters claimed that most of these auto-rickshaws don’t even go by meter and refuse to go to most places barring a few that are near the metro station like lado Sarai, Neb Sarai and Maidangarhi.

Aneesh Talukdar, who works at IGI Airport, said the huge traffic volume on IGNOU road spills over to Mehrauli Badarpur road that further exacerbates the problem. “Traffic jam on IGNOU road is a regular affair and often it spills over to the main road. When unable to take turn into IGNOU road due to heavy traffic, many commuters drive haphazardly and occupy the whole carriageway. Due to this, those commuters who have to go towards Saket Metro Station are stuck behind the huge volume of traffic that needs to go into the interior road, creating a deadlock,” he said, however, adding that the central verge has been installed on the IGNOU road which has brought some discipline, but not enough.

While inbound traffic to IGNOU road and encroachment by auto-rickshaws near the metro station are the major problems leading to heavy congestion on the stretch, the cut on the divider near Gate Number 1 of the metro station adds to the traffic woes where vehicles taking u-turn cover the whole carriageway blocking vehicles that need to go straight.

Roadside parking due to the presence of market area also aggravates the problem thereby making driving extremely difficult on this stretch. Easing traffic here not only requires some serious thought into redesigning of the road, it also needs special attention to ensure discipline among the auto-drivers as well as removing of encroachment from the road.