Lakhs celebrate on road, rest can wait...
Somreet Bhattacharya | tnn | Updated: Jan 2, 2019, 05:57 IST
NEW DELHI: New Year revelry brought the capital to a halt on Tuesday evening as more than 2.5 lakh people gathered around India Gate, Delhi zoo on Mathura Road and Hanuman Temple near Kashmere Gate. The footfall was several times more than what the police had expected. The situation required police to shut down four metro stations to stop more people from coming to these areas.
The crowd had started swelling by 2pm around India Gate and 3pm at Kashmere Gate. People heading to the zoo or India Gate caused choke points on Mathura Road as police had to intermittently stop vehicle flow to allow pedestrians to cross the road. Apart from this, huge crowds also gathered at the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place and Akshardham Temple, leading to major disruptions.
Police had deployed 40 teams around India Gate to control the movement of up to 80,000. But the crowd suddenly started swelling around 2pm. With slow movement of vehicles on the C-Hexagon, Mathura Road (near Bapa Nagar) and Ring Road, almost all the roads starting from Sarai Kale Khan and Lodhi Colony became clogged.
It was estimated that over a lakh people came to the India Gate area from the satellite towns on the newly opened Delhi metro lines. With so many people on the road, vehicular movement was affected.“We had already appealed to the public to avoid India Gate and warned about the impending jams. Diversions were made wherever possible,” said joint CP (traffic) Alok Kumar.
Another officer said, “We could not risk a situation where we could allow pedestrians and vehicles to move at the same time. It would have sparked a law and order problem.”
Anshul was going to Hanuman Temple near Kashmere Gate with his parents from south Delhi. “I had presumed that travelling on the Barapullah to reach Sarai Kale Khan and then taking the Ring Road would be comparatively easier. But the snarls at the Ring Road-Bhairon Road crossing stretched till the Sarai Kale Khan flyover. It took me nearly an hour to cross.”
Roads coming from Noida and Ghaziabad were choked too. At Connaught Place, parking was not allowed on Outer Circle. Around 3pm, 5,000-odd people lined up along the road to enter the Hanuman Temple that blocked one carriageway of Baba Kharak Singh Marg.
Brahm Singh took 45 minutes to reach Connaught Place from Darya Ganj while going towards Rajouri Garden. “I parked my car at the Shivaji Stadium metro station and took a train ride instead,” he said.
The crowd had started swelling by 2pm around India Gate and 3pm at Kashmere Gate. People heading to the zoo or India Gate caused choke points on Mathura Road as police had to intermittently stop vehicle flow to allow pedestrians to cross the road. Apart from this, huge crowds also gathered at the Hanuman Temple at Connaught Place and Akshardham Temple, leading to major disruptions.
Police had deployed 40 teams around India Gate to control the movement of up to 80,000. But the crowd suddenly started swelling around 2pm. With slow movement of vehicles on the C-Hexagon, Mathura Road (near Bapa Nagar) and Ring Road, almost all the roads starting from Sarai Kale Khan and Lodhi Colony became clogged.
It was estimated that over a lakh people came to the India Gate area from the satellite towns on the newly opened Delhi metro lines. With so many people on the road, vehicular movement was affected.“We had already appealed to the public to avoid India Gate and warned about the impending jams. Diversions were made wherever possible,” said joint CP (traffic) Alok Kumar.
Another officer said, “We could not risk a situation where we could allow pedestrians and vehicles to move at the same time. It would have sparked a law and order problem.”
Anshul was going to Hanuman Temple near Kashmere Gate with his parents from south Delhi. “I had presumed that travelling on the Barapullah to reach Sarai Kale Khan and then taking the Ring Road would be comparatively easier. But the snarls at the Ring Road-Bhairon Road crossing stretched till the Sarai Kale Khan flyover. It took me nearly an hour to cross.”
Roads coming from Noida and Ghaziabad were choked too. At Connaught Place, parking was not allowed on Outer Circle. Around 3pm, 5,000-odd people lined up along the road to enter the Hanuman Temple that blocked one carriageway of Baba Kharak Singh Marg.
Brahm Singh took 45 minutes to reach Connaught Place from Darya Ganj while going towards Rajouri Garden. “I parked my car at the Shivaji Stadium metro station and took a train ride instead,” he said.
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