Some of the areas and stretches which witnessed bumper-to-bumper traffic include Central Delhi’s Patel Nagar and Shadipur, and south Delhi areas like Dhaula Kuan, the stretch near IIT-Delhi and the entire route from Badarpur border to Ashram Chowk.
“Today we received calls about severe jams in areas close to popular markets in the city. For every such case, adequate personnel were deployed to ensure smooth flow of traffic,” Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chander said. Call records of Delhi Traffic Police revealed that severe traffic congestion was reported in the Delhi Cantonment area around 9 am. Within an hour, there were long tailbacks witnessed at the stretches between Pankha Road and Uttam Nagar in West Delhi and between Pusa Road and Shadipur in Central Delhi, a traffic official said.
By 11 am, the congestion at Delhi Cantonment area led to a chock-a-block situation in and around Dhaula Kuan, where hundreds of commuters were stuck in a severe jam.
Meanwhile, traffic snarls were reported at East Delhi’s Khichdipur, Outer Delhi’s Burari bypass and the flyover at northeast Delhi’s Shahdara. In east Delhi, long tailbacks were witnessed at Preet Vihar and Vikas Marg, the official said. By noon, the traffic snarls at West Delhi and Central Delhi worsened, and its ripple effect was witnessed at Rajouri Garden and Patel Nagar areas respectively.
Around the same time, congestion was also reported at the stretch between Pancsheel and IIT flyover, the Ring Road stretch near Sarai kale Khan. And soon, the tailback at Rajouri Garden extended till Punjabi Bagh area, the official said.
In the evening, areas like Burari, Patel Nagar, Shadipur and IIT remained clogged, even as congestions were also reported at Daryaganj, the stretch between Badarpur border and Ashram Chowk, Piragarhi and near Qutb Minar. Long tailbacks were also reported at Model Town, Kingsway Camp and Lawrence Road in northwest Delhi, the official added. The Delhi government has collected over Rs 2 crore from the over 10,000 challans issued by traffic police, transport department and Sub Divisional Magistrates (SDM) to violators of odd-even scheme which ended on Friday.
According to official data, as many as 10,021 people were challaned for violating car-rationing scheme, which came into force from January 1. SDMs challaned as many as 5,582 motorists, while around 2,870 people were fined by the Delhi Traffic police for violating the scheme, a senior official said. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal praised the traffic police for their assistance in enforcing the odd-even scheme.
The government had stipulated Rs 2,000 penalty under relevant sections of Motor Vehicle Act for each violation of the restrictions rolled out on January 1 and remained in force between 8 am to 8 pm during weekdays.
As the curtains came down on the odd-even pilot scheme on Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the measures, unprecedented in independent India’s history, managed to increase the efficiency of the public transportation system, especially buses, as congestion came down “drastically”. People followed the measures not because of the provision of Rs 2,000 penalty for each violation, Kejriwal stressed. “People shared tales with me as to how they got used to good habits like Metro and carpooling. I appeal them not to leave those habits from tomorrow (Saturday) only because the fine won’t be there. Keep the scheme in force voluntarily because it’s about out health, children’s health and our collective future,” Kejriwal said.