Festive shopping caused massive traffic jams in almost all parts of the city on Thursday. As thousands of shoppers thronged the markets to make their last-minute purchases, traffic was crippled on the roads.
Apart from the ongoing festive rush, traffic restrictions due to VIP movements and road cave-in at Zakir Husain Marg compounded the commuters' problem. Breakdown of a heavy vehicle on National Highway 24 in the morning aggravated the traffic condition in East Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad. The jam was of almost 12 hours and ended only in the evening.
The curbs were imposed in and around Shakti Sthal on the day to facilitate the VIP movement on the eve of Indira Gandhi's 29th death anniversary. "Traffic movement was restricted at the Teen Murti roundabout in the evening. Traffic movement was also restricted around 1 Safdarjung Marg, the office of former PM of India, Indira Gandhi," said a traffic police official.
Commuters whined that traffic discharge was crippled from Nizamuddin to India Gate in the morning as the road caved in at Zakir Husain Marg. Normalcy could only be restored post-4 pm, when the road was repaired. "Traffic was crawling at the Oberoi flyover in the morning due to diversions. The situation was worse on the Subramania Bharati Marg and Zakir Husain Marg," said Mohit Sharma, a hassled software engineer.
Traffic was heavy at NH-24 on Ghazipur border due to breakdown of a trolla carrying heavy electrical equipment. Commuters complained that they got stuck for hours on the highway, as the vehicle could only be removed by evening. Due to this, the arterial roads to East Delhi areas including Vikas Marg, NH 24 and laxmi Nagar to Ghaziabad, Indirapuram, Mohan Nagar, Kaushamabi and Noida were severely affected. According to Delhi Traffic Police, traffic was heavy on Maa Anand Mai Marg and Mehrauli Badarpur (MB) road due to an accident inside the container depot in Tughlaqabad.
Despite it being a weekday, long queues of cars could be seen around many markets as shoppers thronged the market places to finish up their last-minute purchases. As Delhiites went shopping in large numbers, massive snarls were triggered in almost all parts of the city including Paharganj, Chandni Chowk, Pitampura, Rohini, Badarpur, RK Puram, lajpat Nagar, Chirag Dilli, Yusuf Sarai, Malviya Nagar and Sarai Kale Khan. "It took me 45 minutes to reach Moolchand from Chirag Dilli, a distance which can be covered in 15 minutes usually," said Nishtha Singh, an engineering student.
The festive rush was not just limited to the roads as metro stations too were overflowing with commuters in the evening as people went shopping. Traffic situation is expected to get even more troublesome for the commuters, with more shoppers hitting the road ahead of the festival of lights on Sunday and Bhai Duj on Tuesday.