Huge Traffic Jam In Delhi Over Republic Day Dress Rehearsal

NEW DELHI: Office goers and commuters faced traffic hassles as roads in and around Lutyens' Delhi remained clogged on Tuesday morning, with officials attributing it to dress rehearsal and preparations for Republic Day.

Traffic congestion was reported from areas such as Sansad Marg, Mandi House, ITO and Kartavya Path where the rehearsals are being conducted.

Other stretches -- Akbar Road, Kamraj road, Rajaji Marg, Safdarjung Road leading to Central Delhi also remained clogged.

Various roundabouts in Central Delhi and the road towards Le Meridien was completely blocked. Commuters and office goers had little choice but to wait for more than 20 minutes at each stretch even as their vehicles crawled at a snail's pace.

No traffic advisory was issued by the police which added to the congestion.

"It took me an hour from Mandi House to reach my office in Sansad Marg. Traffic movement was badly affected throughout the route," a commuter said. Another commuter took to Twitter to show how much the traffic was affected as vehicles remained stationary for at least 45 minutes at one place.

"Pragati Maidan tunnel opening towards India Gate side completely chocked for more than half and hour," he said.

Traffic was heavy at certain junctions in and around Lutyens' Delhi due to the dress rehearsal. Vehicular movement was affected for more than 40 minutes.

"Vehicles were moving but slowly but after the situation was brought under control, the traffic movement became smooth," a traffic official said.

Abhishek Narang, one of the commuters said he took a detour through Ferozshah Road after seeing traffic congestion on the Ashoka road extending up to India Gate circle.

"But the moment I reached the Rail bhawan roundabout, there was again traffic all around. Lot of commuters like me faced inconvenience and I got late in reaching office," he said.

Another office goer said, "I was coming from east Delhi and got stuck at the ITO. Vehicles were moving but at a snail's pace. After coming out from there, I again got struck on the Le Meridien stretch. I had to attend an important office meeting but I ended up reaching late." Many metro stations around Central Delhi also witnessed increase in the number of commuters resulting in long queues.

"Since I witnessed huge traffic jam on the ITO stretch, I left my cab midway and decided to take metro to the office. But even metro station was crowded but at least I could reach office in the nick of the time," said another commuter.