Breakdowns, protests bring traffic to a halt in parts of city

A few breakdowns and a protest is all that it took to choke Delhi yet again since Tuesday morning which eased out only in the late evening, much to the commuters' pleasure as many reportedly were stuck in long tailbacks.

Thousands of commuters going to Noida from Kalindi Kunj had a horrific time and were seen locked bumper to bumper because of a truck that broke down midway on the Yamuna Barage. Being the morning rush hour, heavy traffic congestion on the stretch left people stuck for long hours as a chock-a-block situation was created.

The congestion was so severe that even the Delhi Traffic Police had to advise people to avoid the stretch.

"Pathetic management at Kalindi Kunj. Standing still for over 20 minutes," complained one commuter Apurva Gaur who was struck in the traffic.

Ali Ahmed Firdausi, who got struck up for half-an-hour in the long snarl said: "I was not being able to move my car for more than a few inches as Sarita Vihar was completely blocked."

It was only in the evening that the heavy vehicle had been removed from Kalindi Kunj.

Adding to the woes, a cluster bus also broke down at Andrews Ganj, making the stretch congested and passengers were seen having no respite for hours.

The traffic police said: "Traffic is heavy on the carriageway towards Moolchand due to breakdown of a cluster bus on Andrew Ganj flyover." It was only around 5.30 pm that the bus was removed from the flyover.

If two were not enough, yet another breakdown of a DTC bus was reported from Tilak Nagar towards Nagafgarh Road. This too resulted in long queues of vehicles struggling to find their way out.

On top of vehicle breakdowns, there were two protests as well that acted as the cherry on the icing to the already messed up situation.

The first one was reported from Britania towards Rampura which resulted in the Ring Road from Punjabi Bagh towards Wazirpur being affected.

The second one was near Sansad Marg by JNU teachers and students which compelled the traffic police to appeal to people to avoid the road. It was only cleared later in the day.