Waters recede a bit but confusion rises as commuters forced to take detours

Waters recede a bit but confusion rises as commuters forced to take detours

Fresh traffic restrictions result in hours-long traffic jams on various roads leading to central Delhi; 4,500 traffic personnel deployed; metro footfall goes up.

North and east Delhi were practically cut off from central Delhi on Friday with floodwaters submerging areas like ITO and Rajghat, and Delhi Police putting traffic restrictions on various routes.

Even though the Yamuna level receded slightly, the floodwaters reached close to some prominent establishments, including the Supreme Court and the Delhi Secretariat, after an Irrigation and Flood Control Department’s water regulator near the WHO building at Indraprastha collapsed on Thursday evening.

Traffic restrictions

The Delhi Traffic Police restricted the movement of vehicles on prominent roads such as Vikas Marg, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, I.P. Road and the road between Geeta Colony and Shanti Van, among others.

The fresh restrictions resulted in commuters facing hours-long traffic jams on various roads leading to central Delhi.

Several commuters were seen confused and enquiring with traffic police personnel about the route before taking a U-turn from the barricades. Those who did not have their own vehicles tried to cross the flooded roads with their bags and footwear in hand.

Gorakhnath, who was waiting at ITO for a bus to Anand Vihar for nearly two hours, said that he would have to return home. “I tried wading through the water for a while but came back as there is too much water here,” he said.

More than 4,500 personnel were deployed across the city to regulate traffic and help people navigate alternate routes to their destinations, and also to monitor the movement of kanwariyas, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) S.S. Yadav said. However, none of the restrictions applied to the movement of essential commodities.

“Traffic movement is closed for all vehicles on Vikas Marg in both the carriageways from Laxmi Nagar T-point to A-Point (ITO) and vice versa. Commuters are advised to avoid this stretch and take alternative routes like the NH24 via Akshardham and Nizamuddin,” Traffic Police said in a tweet. “Traffic movement is restricted on Mahatma Gandhi Marg in both the carriageways from Sarai Kale Khan towards Rajghat and vice versa,” it added. Both carriageways on I.P. Road from I.P. flyover to W-point and vice versa were also shut due to overflow of water from a sewer near the I.P. flyover.

The Traffic Police also said, “The road from Geeta Colony to Shanti Van and vice versa has been closed due to waterlogging.”

Meanwhile, various roads such as Bhairon Marg, Outer Ring Road between Majnu Ka Tila to IGI Stadium, and Boulevard Road from the ISBT Kashmere Gate T-point to Gate No. 5, Kashmere Gate Metro Station continued to remain heavily flooded.

Many people who were walking on the divider to avoid stepping into water near the ITO junction also complained of electric shocks from light poles. DCP (Central) Sanjay Kumar Sain said, “There was a faulty pole on the road towards Vikas Marg. As soon as we found out, we alerted the civic agencies to cut off power supply of streetlights in the area. They fixed the problem by the evening.”

Ban on heavy vehicles

With road traffic being hit, the Delhi Metro witnessed higher-than-average footfall since Wednesday. The average ridership of the Delhi Metro is between 55 and 60 lakhs but 62.74 lakh people travelled in it on Friday. Entry of heavy commercial vehicles remained banned from Singhu, Tikri, Rajokari, Badarpur, Chilla, Gazipur, Loni, Apsara and Bhopura borders.