Editor Mr.Mayank Rawat ( Chief Editor Mr. Rohit Mishra )
New Delhi: On Monday morning, around 10:30 am, cab driver Uday Singh was caught in the peak-hour traffic. “Baal baal bach gaya roadblock se,” he told his next passenger in Noida after having narrowly escaped the barricades that blocked traffic on Vikas Marg, up to Laxmi Nagar. He was reluctant to return to ITO, uncertain what the next trip had in store for him.
Like him, when most people were starting their day – opening their shops or commuting to their workplaces after a long weekend – much of central Delhi came to a halt due to what is a recurring pattern of disruption now due to VIP movement. This time, it was New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visiting Rajghat to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.
Having received no traffic advisory or warning on social media, many were left scrambling for alternative routes, forced to take detours, make U-turns or even park their vehicles on the spot and walk over long distances. This was the second such traffic disruption in just over a fortnight. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Rajghat had similarly disrupted normal life in the area.
People vented their ire on social media. One person who claimed to have been stuck in traffic for more than an hour, exclaimed: “Ridiculous! Feel sorry for the patient in the ambulance who was stuck with us.” Another commuter said, “Which VVIP is coming to ITO? The police have stopped traffic. Vikas Marg and Outer Ring Road are jammed. When will this VIP culture end?”
Many people agreed that restrictions are needed due to security reasons and the traffic police act on orders but regretted that it was happening too often and without any concern for the harassed commuter.
“ITO seems to have become the ground zero for such disruptions,” said S Chakraborty, who was driving towards Noida. “VIP visits have become frequent with party offices located in the area, not to forget that Bharat Mandapam is now a popular venue for official and other functions. Mathura Road is anyway choked with cars parked randomly on the roadside. The common man doesn’t have the right of way. The sheer unpredictability of the traffic situation here causes anxiety to the road user,” he said, sounding exasperated.
The VIP movement was scheduled to happen at 11:20 am but the preparations had begun much earlier. Traffic on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Vikas Marg, Outer Ring Road and many other roads in the vicinity was affected. The barricading led to chaos as commuters were caught off guard and tried desperately to find a way out.
Street vendors and small restaurants in the area lost a few hours of business and cab drivers some trips. It doesn’t take much imagination to gauge that people headed for hospitals and railway stations were also affected quite badly. If it had been just an hour later, school children too would have been caught in the gridlock.
A senior traffic official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said advisories cannot be issued due to safety and logistical reasons. “Traffic police abide by the instructions it gets which is to cause minimum inconvenience to people and manage traffic flow. Sometimes, when vehicular movement is higher, minor inconveniences can happen, but that is rare. We follow the standard protocol, allowing light vehicles to pass until 10 minutes before the VIP movement and halting just for two-three minutes.”
“Further, if any VIP or VVIP is visiting, there is always a purpose, mostly related to the country’s well-being. Therefore, their security and safety are important.”
S Velmurugan, chief scientist and head of the traffic engineering and safety division at CSIR-Central Road Research Institute called for a rethink, given the inconvenience caused to the common man. “The best way forward is the use of helipads,” he suggested.
In fact, in 2010, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and union home minister P Chidambaram had gone in a chopper to the same venue at New Police Lines ground to attend a Delhi Police function. However, security experts feel the risk involved in using a chopper is high as it can be targeted. “On the ground, we sanitise all routes,” said an official. And people become collateral damage, one may add.
Mayank Rawat
