Power line snaps, traffic comes to standstill on Delhi–Jaipur Highway

Traffic on the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway came to a halt for over two hours on Saturday after a high-voltage power line snapped and fell across the carriageway near Gurugram, narrowly missing vehicles and pedestrians.

The snapped transmission line fell across the main road, forcing the administration to immediately halt traffic in both directions to prevent any untoward incident. The closure severely disrupted movement on the Jaipur-Delhi route, leaving commuters stranded in long queues under scorching heat.

Within minutes, a traffic jam stretching nearly 4-5 kilometres formed from Narsinghpur to the Kherki Daula toll plaza. With the incident occurring on a weekend, the disruption caused significant inconvenience to motorists and passengers, throwing traffic on the highway into disarray. Senior district administration officials, local police and electricity department personnel rushed to the spot. Police cordoned off the area and asked people to maintain a safe distance from live transmission line while a technical team worked to remove it and make the power supply safe. Electricity department employees took nearly two hours to clear the snapped wire from the highway, after which traffic returned to normal.

The Gurugram Traffic Police later issued an advisory asking commuters travelling towards Delhi to use alternate routes and follow traffic personnel's directions. "Due to a broken high-voltage power line near the Indian Oil Petrol Pump, Narsinghpur, traffic has been temporarily stopped on both the Delhi-Jaipur and Jaipur-Delhi carriageways of NH-48 and the service road. Commuters are advised to use the alternate routes as mentioned and follow the directions of traffic police," the advisory said.

A senior electricity department official said the snapped line was a 66-kV transmission line running from Harsaru to Sector 35.

"The wire has been removed from the road and traffic is moving smoothly now, but many areas are facing power outages. Electricity department employees are working to repair the line," the official said. According to a senior traffic police officer, traffic on NH-48 was disrupted near the Narsinghpur Foot Over Bridge due to the sudden snapping of the transmission line cable.

Vehicles travelling from Delhi towards Jaipur were diverted via SPR Road using the cloverleaf and Basai Road through Rajiv Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk. Traffic from Jaipur towards Delhi was rerouted via the Dwarka Expressway and SPR Road using the cloverleaf near Kherki Daula before rejoining NH-48 through Rajiv Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk, the officer added.