New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) Traffic crawled on several stretches and commuters struggled to reach their destinations as water from the Yamuna spilled onto the roads of the national capital, prompting the Delhi Traffic Police on Thursday to issue an advisory on vehicular movement.
There is no restriction on vehicles carrying essential services such as food items and petroleum products, the police said.
The closure of roads due to the Yamuna overflowing also hit traffic in several parts of the city, especially east Delhi, where commuters were stuck for hours.
According to the police advisory, traffic movement has been impaired on Mahatma Gandhi Marg — between the IP flyover and the Chandgi Ram Akhara and the Kalighat Mandir and the Delhi Secretariat — and on the Outer Ring Road between the Wazirabad Bridge and the Chandgi Ram Akhara.
The commuters have been advised to avoid the roads and plan their journeys accordingly, it said.
Non-destined commercial vehicles will not be allowed to enter Delhi and be diverted to the Eastern and the Western Peripheral Expressway. Commercial vehicles will also be diverted from Mukarba Chowk. No commercial vehicles will be allowed between Mukarba Chowk and the Wazirabad Bridge, the advisory stated.
The commercial vehicles will also be diverted from Sarai Kale Khan. No such vehicles will be allowed between Sarai Kale Khan and the IP flyover and will be diverted from the Ghazipur border and from Akshardham towards the DND flyway. Commercial vehicles will also not be allowed between Akshardham and Sarai Kale Khan, it added.
The low-lying areas near the river in Delhi — home to around 37,000 people — are considered vulnerable to flooding. Due to heavy rainfall, the administration urged local residents to evacuate the area adjacent to the Yamuna floodplain and avoid the low catchment areas, the police said.
The rainwater has spilled onto the Ring Road from Majnu Ka Tila up to Rajghat and adjacent areas, affecting traffic on the Ring Road. Inter-state buses from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand will stop at the Singhu border instead of the ISBT-Kashmere Gate, the police said.
The entry of heavy goods vehicles has been banned from the borders in Singhu, Badarpur, Loni and Chilla as a precautionary measure, they said, adding that traffic from Ghaziabad will be diverted to Road Number 57.
Oncoming traffic from the Wazirabad Bridge to Majnu Ka Tila will be diverted towards Mukarba Chowk. Traffic from Boulevard Road to ISBT will be diverted towards Shamnath Marg and Mahatma Gandhi Marg, the police said.
The commuters have been advised to postpone travel plans to low-lying areas in view of the high alert issued by the administration. In case travel is unavoidable, the police have asked commuters to adhere to the advisory.
The water level of the Yamuna in Delhi has stabilised and will start receding from Thursday night, a senior Central Water Commission official said.
According to the commission’s flood-monitoring portal, the water level at the Old Railway Bridge rose to 208.62 metres at 1 pm and remained stable till 4 pm.
“The water level has stabilised and it will start coming down in the next four hours. It is expected to drop to 208.45 metres by 3 am on Friday,” Central Water Commission Director Sharad Chandra told PTI.
Visuals from Thursday depicted massive traffic snarls across the city.
Siddhart Srivastav, an advocate, said he managed to cover a mere four to five kilometres in three hours.
“I left my home in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh around 8.30 am for Tis Hazari Court. It took me three hours to enter Delhi through GT Road where traffic was chock-a-block. Now, I am looking for a U-turn to go back home,” he said.
Delhiites also took to Twitter to lament the traffic woes.
The traffic was heavy at Maujpur Babarpur near Azadpur, where a commuter claimed to have been stuck for almost two hours, near GTB Hospital, Dilshad Garden, Vivek Vihar and Anand Vihar.
The visuals on social media also depicted huge snarls on NH-24 and Sarai Kale Khan. Water from the overflowing Yamuna reached ITO, a key route for commutes from east to central Delhi and Connaught Place.
There was also heavy traffic congestion at Vikas Marg.
In a tweet, the Delhi Police said, “Due to the rising water levels of the Yamuna river, the traffic coming from Shahdara on GT Road towards ISBT, Kashmere Gate, has been diverted from Seelampur T-point via Keshav Chowk – Karkardooma Court – Road No 57- NH-24.” “Movement of traffic is restricted on both the carriageways from ISBT towards Majnu Ka Tila and vice-versa due to rise in the Yamuna river water. Kindly avoid these stretches,” it said in another tweet.
According to the police, traffic movement has been affected on Outer Ring Road (Rohini to ISBT) — movement is being allowed only towards GTK Road. On GTK Road to ISBT (Sonepat side), traffic movement is closed and diverted to the other side. From GTK Road to Azadpur under Mukarba Chowk flyover, traffic is being diverted towards Rohini.
Similarly, traffic movement has been affected near the Singhu border and is being diverted to Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway. At Mukarba Chowk, vehicles are being diverted to Peeragarhi Chowk and the Narela side. At Bhalswa, traffic is being diverted to Peeragarhi and the Narela side while passenger buses from Haryana and Punjab will terminate at the border, the police said.
“Due to the rise in water level of the Yamuna river, traffic on Pusta Road from Shamshaan Ghat, Geeta Colony to Old Iron Bridge, Gandhi Nagar, has been diverted towards Raja Ram Kohli Marg or Master Plan Road to reach Swami Dayanand Marg and then to GT Road, Shahdara,” it said.
It also tweeted that the traffic will remain heavy at the Kalindi Kunj red light and Road No 13A, Jasola Vihar, due to restrictions in movement of traffic by the Uttar Pradesh Police on the carriageway from Kalindi Kunj towards Noida for the Kanwar Yatra.
Gaurav Kumar, who works at a private firm in Noida Sector 3, said the entire Dilshad Garden area was choked by mile-long jams.
“I generally reach my office in 30 minutes. Today it took me two hours to reach Noida from Dilshad Colony after taking several alternative routes,” he said.
The traffic at Jasola was also heavy.
Delhi had recorded a rapid rise in the Yamuna’s water level over the past four days. It shot up from 203.14 metres at 11 am on Sunday to 205.4 metres at 5 pm on Monday, breaching the danger mark of 205.33 metres 18 hours earlier than expected.
The river exceeded the evacuation mark of 206 metres Monday night, prompting the relocation of people residing in flood-prone areas to safer locations and the closure of the Old Railway Bridge for road and rail traffic.
The water level breached the previous record of 207.49 metres by 1 pm on Wednesday and the 208-metre mark by 10 pm.
Several key areas in Delhi, including the secretariat housing the chief minister’s office, were flooded on Thursday. PTI NIT SZM
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