Chandigarh choke as roads clog, suspend decongest plan

CHANDIGARH: The first day of the pilot project to decongest Madhya Marg during the rush hours turned into a nightmare for motorists on Tuesday, forcing the police to suspend the plan to restrict traffic on a few stretches for two hours in the morning and evening.

“Traffic will ply normally from Wednesday. We will hold discussions and make the necessary changes before implementing the plan again. We have taken into account the issues faced today,” said Shashank Anand, SSP (traffic). The issues were multiple: lack of coordination, no awareness drive, improper implementation and huge traffic jams. Motorists lined up from Sector 29-Industrial Area, Phase I, light point to transport light point. It took 20 to 30 minutes to cross the less than 1km stretch.


People reached their offices late, missed buses, trains and even court hearings. Transport light point, grain market, St Kabir school light point and IT Park-Sector 26 light point were choked from 9.30am to 11am. Such was the gridlock that cops had to remove the barricades half an hour early at 10.30am. Confusion also prevailed over the time traffic will be blocked in the morning, some said the plan will start from 8.30am, while others at 9am, when it finally took off.

In the evening, the situation was worse. Cars and motorcycles crawled from Fun Republic light point to the railway light point. Police diverted traffic towards the railway station from Panchkula, but due to the narrow stretch, traffic remained stuck there.