NEW DELHI: The heavy rain caused massive traffic jams across the city on Saturday with vehicular movement being hit at several places in central and south Delhi areas for hours. Minto Bridge, Rajghat, Connaught Place, Moolchand, Azad Market and ITO were among worst-affected areas.
Due to waterlogging, Delhi Traffic Police closed several crucial underpasses and traffic moved at a snail’s pace at many stretches. It was a harrowing time for commuters through the day. The traffic police, however, took to Twitter to regularly inform commuters about road closures.
“Traffic is affected at Moolchand Underpass due to waterlogging,” the traffic police tweeted at 7.43am. Before that, it warned commuters at 7.27am to avoid Minto Bridge while informing that both carriageways had been closed due to waterlogging.
The traffic remained heavy due to waterlogging at Mehram Nagar Underpass, Dwarka Underpass and Bijwasan Flyover. The Azad Market underpass was closed while traffic was affected at Moolchand Underpass.
Both carriageways from Rajghat and Shantivan were choked by 9am. Around this time, the traffic police also tweeted about waterlogging and jams at stretches like Rajdhani Park Metro Station to Mundka, Nangloi to Najafgarh Road and towards Bakkarwala.
The alerts about ITO and adjacent areas were coming in till 2.30pm. With a respite for a short span of time, the jams were back in the afternoon and were reported on till late evening.
“Traffic affected due to waterlogging at GTK Depot, kindly avoid using this route. Traffic diverted from Mukarba Chowk to Outer Ring Road and Azadpur to Road No. 51,” the traffic police tweeted at 4.36pm.
Severe waterlogging was reported from Pul Prahladpur Underpass, while traffic was interrupted at MB Road and diverted on Mathura Road.
Other major stretches and traffic points flooded with rainwater included Dhaula Kuan to Gurgaon with traffic moving in one lane, Rajdhani Park Metro Station to Mundka, Nangloi to Najafgarh Road, MB Road, stretches around Kashmere Gate Metro Station, Sanjay T-point, Chhatta Rail Chowk, Monkey Bridge, Iron Bridge, etc.
Due to waterlogging near Chirag Dilli, traffic on Press Enclave Road and lanes within Malviya Nagar were affected till around 10.30pm. There was ankle-deep water near Chatta Rail on SP Marg and snarls were also reported from Kalindi Kunj, Jasola and Punjabi Bagh. Traffic moved slowly at South Extension, Lajpat Nagar, Mathura Road, Pragati Maidan too.
“We provided live updates about the situation to civic agencies. They were being simultaneously asked to pump out water from affected areas. Motorists were asked to avoid the affected stretches through social media handles of Delhi Traffic Police,” said a police officer.
