Vehicular movement in the national Capital was disrupted due to restrictions imposed by Delhi Traffic Police in view of the protests staged by Congress workers against the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) questioning of party president Sonia Gandhi in an alleged money laundering case.
Some of the arterial roads that witnessed heavy traffic were Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Bhairon Marg-Ring Road junction, ITO, Vikas Marg, Delhi-Noida Direct Flyway, Sarai Kale Khan, India Gate circle, Dhaula Kuan, Rohtak Road, Barapullah elevated corridor and Aurobindo Marg.
The Delhi traffic police announced the restrictions on Wednesday evening on Twitter. Many commuters used the same platform to report the traffic snarls and inconvenience caused because of the jams. Some of them also posted images of vehicles stuck in traffic jams and sought the attention of traffic police officers. The Delhi Police deployed a huge force and barricaded the entire stretch between Gandhi's residence on Akbar Road and the ED office. The traffic moved at a snail's pace at several key stretches connecting central Delhi with the rest of the city and satellite towns of Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad.
Delhi Traffic Police also took to Twitter to inform commuters regarding the alternate route and routes to avoid. In a series of tweets, traffic police said, “Kindly avoid Pandit Pant Marg, Gol Dak Khana, Ashoka Road, Patel Chowk, Sansad Marg and Rafi Marg from 5:00 PM onwards due to special traffic arrangements.”
“Kindly avoid Motilal Nehru Marg, Akbar Road, Janpath & Man Singh Road between 1400 hrs & 2000 hrs. Due to special arrangements traffic movement will not be possible on these roads,” traffic police tweeted.
“Kindly avoid Gol Methi junction, Tughlak Road Junction, Claridges Junction, Q-point Junction, Sunehri Masjid Junction, Maulana Azad Road Junction & Man Singh Road Junction,” it said in another tweet. Commuters going towards central Delhi were caught in traffic jams. Vaishali Katkurwar, a resident of Mayur Vihar-1, shared a similar experience and blamed authorities for the "traffic mess".
"It is a complete mess out there. I was stuck in traffic for around half an hour. Authorities are to be blamed for this. Be it a demonstration, a procession or waterlogging, traffic is the first to get affected. They should make arrangements for the smooth flow of traffic," she said.
The traffic police took to Twitter to inform commuters about traffic restrictions on various routes and advised them to plan their journey accordingly.
"Kindly avoid Motilal Nehru Marg, Akbar Road, Janpath and Man Singh Road between 0900 hrs and 1400 hrs on 21.07.22. Due to special arrangements, traffic movement will not be possible on these roads," it said in a series of tweets.
The inward movement of buses will be restricted in New Delhi beyond the Gol Dak Khana junction, Patel Chowk, Windsor Place, Teen Murti Chowk and Prithviraj Road, it said.
"Kindly avoid Gol Methi junction, Tughlak Road Junction, Claridges Junction, Q-point Junction, Sunehri Masjid Junction, Maulana Azad Road Junction and Man Singh Road Junction between 0900 hrs and 1400 hrs on 21.07.22. Due to special arrangements, there will be heavy traffic movement on these roads," it tweeted.
Waterlogging on key stretches also slowed down traffic. A commuter Deepak Diwan said he almost missed an important meeting at his office as he was stuck in a traffic jam on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway. "It takes me 50 minutes to reach my office in Karol Bagh from Vaishali but today the journey was over one-and-a-half hours long because of the traffic snarls. Authorities should be held responsible," he said.