Procession blocks Delhi

Choc-a-bloc traffic in New Delhi on Guru Tegh Bahadur martyr day

Procession blocks Delhi

Choc-a-bloc traffic in New Delhi on Guru Tegh Bahadur martyr day

Traffic jams are like buddies for a Delhi commuter. He might miss a lot of things but chances are he would never miss a jam.

The procession for the Guru Teg Bahadur martyrdom started at 9.30 a.m. from Gurdwara Sis Ganj in old Delhi's Chandni Chowk and was to terminate at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj near Parliament Street. But, it took a bit long to reach its destination, spelling disaster for traffic officials as cars piled up choc-a-bloc in the evening hours.

Commuters were stuck for hours.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic was witnessed in Connaught Place, India Gate, Chanakyapuri and Shanti Path. Most of these places are usually free for the traffic to flow on regular days and boast of the best traffic management in the city. But, everything went for a toss, owing to the procession.u00a0

Ramesh, 35, a human resource manager with an MNC told MiD DAY that he was stuck for more than an hour on Shanti Path. "Had I not been driving, I would tried to reach the nearest Metro station. It was a complete disaster."

Mohsin, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, said many people got down from buses and started walking after being stuck for more than 40 minutes. "The traffic was not moving an inch."

The traffic police had issued an advisory a day earlier asking the public to avoid the procession route. However, they did not anticipate the situation to get so difficult.

It took more than five more hours for things to normalize. Traffic police officials said apart from the advisory they had made all arrangements to ensure smooth flow of the traffic but the dimensions of the procession was far bigger than they anticipated.

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