11 fallen trees bring traffic to a halt

New Delhi: Delhi's first Monsoon showers were a relief for some staying back home or in offices but also threw Delhi Traffic to jitters after several trees fell on the roads and obstructed the traffic, leaving the motorists stuck at several points in Delhi. The Public Works Department (PWD) received at least 11 calls of 'fallen tress' from across the city.

Motorists were stuck at Adhchini Red light in South Delhi after a huge tree fell on the road forcing the commuters to make frantic calls to the Delhi Traffic Police and PWD. The call was received at 3:55 pm by the PWD and at 4:05 pm by Traffic police. "Area traffic and concerned civic agency has been informed," the Delhi Traffic Police Twitter handle tweeted.

"We have been struck in the jam from quite sometime and have made several calls to the concerned authorities but there has to be a mechanism for actively responding to calls like these," said a commuter struck in the jam.

"This should be taken on priority as the begining of the monsoon season tests the preparedness of the civic agencies. If a tree has fallen, how quick the agencies respond tells their state of activeness," said another commuter.

The PWD also roped in members of civil division and road maintainence department and also Horticulture department to remove the heavy trunk of the fallen tree which resulted in huge traffic jam on the road.

At around 4 pm a large neem tree uprooted during rain on Aurobindo Marg between PTS Malviya Nagar (from Mehrauli to AIIMS). The tree blocked the complete carriage way. Three cars were also trapped under the tree without any injury to the occupants.

Disaster van of Traffic Unit also reached the spot. SDMC and PWD Horticulture were also informed and their teams also reached the spot.

"The work of cutting as well as removing the tree was taken up, the trapped cars were removed and one lane was restored for traffic at about 5:30pm. The second lane was also restored at about 5:45pm and the complete carriage way was cleared and restored by 6:45pm," said a senior Traffic official. Apart from Adchini, calls of 'fallen trees' were also received from Aurobindo Marg, Mukherjee Nagar, Saket, Mayur Vihar Phase 3 Manas Apartment.

Also the calls of traffic choas due to 'fallen trees' were received from Punjabi Bagh, MB Road, Kaya Maya Mandir, Auchandi Marg, road from IIT Flyover to Munirka and from Jungpura in South east Delhi just at the begining of the flyover.