BJP workers climb atop buses, block roads

New Delhi: Even as Delhiites face frustrations due to limited seating capacity in public transport amid an unprecedented spike in Covid cases, the Delhi BJP on Monday staged a "chakka jam" across the Capital — climbing atop DTC buses, deflating the bus tyres and blocking roads — which led to roads in Delhi being choked for hours — causing traffic snarls for several more hours.

According to DTC workers, at least 25 to 30 DTC buses' tyres were deflated across the city — which led to the buses being left stranded in the middle of key roads — blocking them for hours and leading to massive traffic jams in ITO, near Akshardham Temple and on the Ring Road.

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta who had given the call for the "chakka jam" on Sunday, was leading the protest near the Akshardham temple, where he said, "The Delhi government is opening liquor shops illegally across the city under its new excise policy. Shops are being opened near residential and religious places. Our protest will continue until the policy is rolled back."

He added that liquor shops will not be allowed to operate near religious places, schools and residential areas. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Kuljeet Chahal led the protest at ITO.

Caught in the middle of the slugfest between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party - months before the civic body polls, commuters had a harrowing time due to the traffic snarls.

Key roads that were affected by the protest include the ITO crossing, Vikas Marg from Laxmi Nagar to ITO, the road near Akshardham temple, National Highway 24, Noida-Delhi Link Road, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Mother Dairy Road and the Signature Bridge road.

In Laxmi Nagar, several DTC buses were stopped as protesters from the BJP climbed on top of them and even clung to the windshields so as to stop the buses from plying on the roads. After successfully stopping the buses, the protesters went ahead to deflate the tyres of the buses, DTC workers said.

According to Manoj Sharma, President, DTC Karmachari Ekta Union, "Around 25-30 buses' tyres were deflated by the protesters. Due to this, the buses were stranded on the roads until we could go and get the replacement tyres. Fortunately, no bus driver or conductor was injured as far as we know."

However, Sharma added that almost all of their services were affected in the daytime when the "chakka jam" was at its peak. "In fact, we had to call back buses that had left the depots in case they ran into trouble," he said.

Asked about the commuters facing trouble due to the protest, Delhi BJP's Gupta claimed that it is a public movement and that people are ready to bear with it in order to get rid of the new excise policy of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. Significantly, the chief argument that the BJP has had against all protests against its governments is that it causes inconvenience to the public.

Importantly, several anti-CAA protesters now stand accused of terror activities because of planning a "chakka jam".

And even as commuters, out of frustration, turned to the Delhi Metro to avoid the clogged roads, the Covid curbs for Metro services led to crowded Metro stations with snaking queues of passengers waiting to enter the stations. Significantly, many commuters said that people were seen openly flouting the restrictions with many coaches full of standing passengers.