Traffic restrictions due to Republic Day rehearsal lead to woes for commuters in Delhi

Vehicular movement was severely hit in Central Delhi on Tuesday due to the Republic Day parade rehearsals, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded on the road.

Routes leading to Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg near the ITO, arterial roads of the Ring Road, between Ashram and IP Estate flyover, Man Singh Road, Rafi Marg, Janpath Road, Shahjahan Road, Akbar Road, Ashoka Road and other routes around the Kartavya Path were severely hit.

Posting a picture of the heavy traffic near Kartavya Path, a user on X said, "Is it too much to ask @dtptraffic to manage traffic? The entire central Delhi is choked." Some users reported that they were late for work or didn't want to go to work due to Delhi roads being jam-packed. "Don't feel like going out for work. The traffic in Delhi is horrible," another user on X wrote.

Motorists blamed traffic personnel for not regulating traffic properly and said that there was no proper information about the traffic diversions.

A user who shared a picture of online maps said, "All the roads leading to Central Delhi are fully jammed. People had to wait more than one hour on the road to reach their destination."         Rajat Kumar, who commutes daily to his office in his car, said, "Usually I start in the early morning to reach my office on time. But today it was a completely different situation. I got stuck in traffic for more than two hours. I had to inform my seniors that I would be late for work." He added that security has also been increased due to Republic Day with the traffic police conducting inspections at every checkpoint, which adds to the congestion.

The snarls persisted despite the traffic police issuing an advisory on January 15, notifying the public about road closures. According to the advisory, the Delhi Police has made special traffic arrangements to facilitate the uninterrupted movement of Republic Day parade rehearsals on the Kartavya Path. The special arrangements have been made for January 17, 18, 20, and 21, it read.

Heavy traffic congestion was also reported in several parts of South Delhi. One of the commuters posted on social media that they were stuck in a traffic jam on MB Road for two hours.

Some commuters who opted for the metro complained of long queues at the stations due to heightened security checks ahead of Republic Day.

A user posted a video on X showing a long queue at the metro station and said, "Delhi metro please we can't afford it in that peak time, please. We are using Delhi metro to avoid traffic. This is the peak hour to travel for a corporate life. We all know that 26th January (Republic Day) is near but we can't afford it in that time @OfficialDMRC."

The Delhi Police had earlier issued a traffic advisory and stated that special traffic arrangements were made for four days in order to facilitate the uninterrupted movement of the parade on Kartavya Path.