Heavy downpour on Monday morning once again threw Delhi’s traffic out of gear. Traffic jams were reported from arterial roads across the city. Motorists had a harrowing time as vehicular movement came to a halt due to dysfunctional traffic lights. Traffic movement was affected majorly on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Corridor in South Delhi on account of uprooting of a large tree, due to which both carriageways remained shut.
According to the BRT marshals, heavy rain coupled with strong winds led to the uprooting of the tree located along side the Corridor. “Traffic movement was disrupted for nearly an hour a huge tree uprooted and blocked one of the lanes going from Moolchand towards Sheikh Sarai. The problem got resolved when a crane, employed with Delhi Metro construction work, cleared the area,” said a BRT marshal deployed at Chirag Dilli intersection.
Meanwhile, the BRT marshals tried to axe the tree on their own to unblock the lane. The traffic police received the complaint at 2.25 pm when they issued the advisory for the commuters to avoid the route as both carriageways were blocked. However, the BRT marshals claimed that the incident took place around 1.30 pm. Traffic police control room was flooded with complaints of waterlogging as well as traffic snarls from most parts of Delhi. “At least 14 waterlogging complaints were received.
These include areas such as Purana Quila Road, Pragati Maidan Gate numbers 7 to 9, Malviya Nagar, Adhchini, Aurobindo Marg, Maa Anandmai Marg, road opposite Govindpuri Metro station, near Saket Metro station, Jasola signal, Harikesh Nagar on Mathura Road, lala lajpat Rai marg, Mandir Marg, Bhagwan Dass road and ITO,” said Anil Shukla, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic). He added that to deal with the peak hour rush, extra police personnel were deployed at points ‘A’ and ‘W’ of ITO. Office-goers were the most affected as they struggled to make their way through the crawling traffic, which was reported from across the city, to reach their workplaces.