The Hindu : New Delhi News : Fair, rallies leave Delhi in a jam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 22, 2006
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Fair, rallies leave Delhi in a jam

Staff Reporter

With vehicles moving bumper-to-bumper, motorists are left clueless

NEW DELHI: A combination of factors and some mismanagement by the traffic police led to major traffic jams in the heart of the Capital and parts of East and Central Delhi on Tuesday afternoon.

While arrangements made for the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao and protests against his visit by Tibetan activists were partly to be blamed for the chaos, a major reason was heavy traffic movement around Pragati Maidan where the India International Trade Fair is going on.

Another major reason that reduced the traffic movement to a snail's pace was a rally by various women's organisations demanding early passage of the Women's Reservation Bill.

The problem got so serious by around 2 p.m. that it took motorists nearly an hour to cover the stretch from Vikas Marg in East Delhi to Connaught Place. With the vehicles moving bumper-to-bumper, motorists were wondering what the reason was. And as there was no one major reason that could be blamed for the situation, most motorists were left clueless about what had struck them. The worst affected areas were ITO, Connaught Place, India Gate and Pragati Maidan.

While in view of Mr Hu's meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Hyderabad House, traffic movement in nearby areas was affected. The women's rally at Jantar Mantar organised by All India Mahila Congress affected movement on Janpath, Ashoka Road, Parliament Street and Outer Circus of Connaught Place.

With a large number of people coming to Pragati Maidan for the trade fair at the same time, the chaos was complete. This choked Vikas Marg and adjoining roads.

In the commercial hub of Connaught Place what further complicated matters was the new traffic regulation system that allows only two entry points -- at Janpath and Plaza -- for vehicles from the Outer Circus. However, while the new plan was supposed to ease traffic flow, it has to the contrary led to total clogging of the Outer Circus as the traffic signals have not been eliminated simultaneously to provide for easy entry and exit to vehicles.

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