Diwali rush chokes Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, Metro; cab fares skyrocket

GURGAON: The Delhi-Gurgaon expressway in the city turned into a traffic nightmare on the eve of Diwali on Wednesday as hundreds of people left offices early and many headed towards Iffco Chowk to catch inter-city buses to go to their hometown for the festive weekend.

The jam started around 4 pm when almost all office-goers left. By 7 pm, the stretch of the expressway from Iffco Chowk to Delhi-Gurgaon border at Sirhaul was totally choked. Commuters had a harrowing time as all entry and exit points were blocked by increased flow of traffic. The situation on the other side of the expressway was almost similar.

Commuters told TOI they went back to their offices as the jam situation appeared hopeless and cab aggregators like Uber and Ola hiked the fares as much as thrice in the wake of increased demand. "Normally, I pay between Rs 200 and Rs 300 from my office in Gurgaon to my home in Delhi, but Uber charged me over Rs 700 on Wednesday," said Disha, who works in Udyog Vihar.

"The traffic situation near Moulsari Metro station was pathetic," said Dilip Singh, a Metro commuter. "This station is normally almost empty. Today, there was rush. Also it was scary walking from NH-8 towards the Moulsari Metro station. There are no traffic lights," he added.

Metro stations liked Sikanderpur were also swamped with commuters as it is the key station linking Rapid Metro with Delhi Metro. "It was total chaos," said Nishant Pandit, a commuter.

Many commuters said the traffic snarls were also fuelled by people boarding inter-city buses at Iffco Chowk. "There was a traffic rush to that side right from the afternoon. That is why the jam situation got aggravated," said Navin Jha, a commuter.

When contacted, DCP (traffic) Simardeep Singh said the police had helped ease the traffic snarls swiftly. "There is no jam now. Even if we checked on Google maps, no major snarls are visible. In fact, the condition of traffic on Diwali eve wasn't as worse as it had been last year. We were expecting more trouble, but thankfully that was avoided," he said.

Singh said police have deployed around 350 personal and 200 homeguards to manage the traffic, besides ensuring the availability of PCR vans and SHO vehicles of every police station.