Day after odd-even scheme, traffic snarls back in city

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 16

Several major roads witnessed a chock-a-block situation, a day after the fortnight-long odd-even scheme restricting movement of private cars ended.

Some of the areas and stretches which witnessed bumper-to-bumper traffic were central Delhi’s Patel Nagar and Shadipur, and south Delhi areas like Dhaula Kuan, the stretch near IIT-Delhi and the entire route from Badarpur border to Ashram Chowk.

A senior Delhi Traffic Police officer said the department today received several calls about severe traffic jams in areas close to markets frequented by people in Delhi. “Adequate personnel were deployed to ensure the smooth flow of traffic,” said the officer.

Call records of Delhi Traffic Police revealed that severe traffic congestion was reported in the Delhi Cantonment area around 9 am.

Within an hour, there were long tailbacks witnessed at the stretches between Pankha Road and Uttam Nagar in west Delhi and between Pusa Road and Shadipur in central Delhi, a traffic official said.

By 11 am, the congestion at Delhi Cantonment area led to a chock-a-block situation in and around Dhaula Kuan, where hundreds of commuters were stuck in a severe jam.

Meanwhile, traffic snarls were reported at east Delhi’s Khichdipur, outer Delhi’s Burari bypass and the flyover at northeast Delhi’s Shahdara. Long tailbacks were also witnessed at Preet Vihar and Vikas Marg, the official said.

By noon, the traffic snarls at west Delhi and central Delhi worsened, and its ripple effect was witnessed at Rajouri Garden and Patel Nagar areas respectively.

Around the same time, congestion was also reported in the stretch between Pancsheel and IIT flyover, the Ring Road stretch near Sarai Kale Khan. And soon, the tailback at Rajouri Garden extended till Punjabi Bagh area, the official said. 

In the evening, areas like Burari, Patel Nagar, Shadipur and IIT remained clogged, even as congestions were reported at Daryaganj, the stretch between Badarpur border and Ashram Chowk, Piragarhi and near Qutb Minar. 

Long tailbacks were also reported at Model Town, Kingsway Camp and Lawrence Road in northwest Delhi, the official added. The Delhi Government has collected over Rs 2 crore from the over 10,000 challans issued by traffic police, transport department and Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDM) to violators of odd-even scheme which ended yesterday. 

According to official data, as many as 10,021 people were challaned for violating car-rationing scheme, which came into force from January 1. SDMs challaned as many as 5,582 motorists, while around 2,870 people were fined by the Delhi Traffic police for violating the scheme, a senior official said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal praised the traffic police for their assistance in enforcing the odd-even scheme. 

The government had stipulated Rs 2,000 penalty under relevant sections of Motor Vehicle Act for each violation of the restrictions rolled out on January 1 and remained in force between 8 am to 8 pm during weekdays.