Severe traffic snarls were reported at Central Delhi on Thursday morning. Long tailbacks were witnessed in and around the ITO junction, along Vikas Marg, Bahadur Shah Zafar Road, Tilak Marg, Sikandra Road, and the C-Hexagon near India Gate.
The traffic snarls primarily started after a group of more than 100 men, led by some BJP leaders, reportedly gathered outside the police headquarter protesting against the farmer’s suicide at the AAP rally in Jantar Mantar on April 22. They later tried to march towards the Delhi Secretariat, but were diverted to Shahidi Park by police officials.
A large number of police officials were deployed to control the crowd that gathered outside the police headquarter around 11 am. The traffic snarls originated from Indraprastha Marg where the police headquarters are located, soon extending to the whole of Vikas Marg. In no time, the ITO junction was clogged, later leading to traffic snarls in all the approach roads.
Areas affected the most, include Mandi House and Delhi Gate.
Apart from Central Delhi, traffic snarls were also reported in South Delhi’s Panchsheel Marg, near the Arjangarh metro station on Mehrauli-Badarpur Road and Subroto Park areas, said a traffic official.
Meanwhile, the Delhi BJP, which had planned a protest march from ITO to Kejriwal’s residence
around the same time, staged a protest at the Delhi Police headquarters in Central Delhi, where the police used water cannons to disperse them. Delhi BJP Chief Satish Upadhyay alleged that there was a conspiracy behind the incident and demanded that the organisers of the rally be booked for murder. BJP workers including Upadhyay and senior leader Jagdish Mukhi were detained by the police and taken to the nearby police station in a bus.
Scores of Youth Congress protesters carrying placards, demanding Kejriwal’s resignation, reached his Flagstaff Road residence at Civil Lines in North Delhi at around 10 am.