Unprecedented pedestrian traffic clogged the heart of the Capital and tested the police’s patience throughout Sunday as three major attractions drew lakhs of visitors to Central Delhi.
While vehicular traffic headed to Central Delhi had to bear the brunt of diversions and arrangements put in place by the traffic police to allow a glitch-free Airtel Half-Marathon in the morning, a religious rally in the afternoon and a swarm of weekend visitors to the trade fair kept both traffic and the local police personnel on their toes well into the evening.
As soon as the marathon got over, a religious procession to celebrate the christening of two saints of Indian-origin by the Vatican was taken out from the GPO in Gole Market. This, according to the traffic police, led to temporary congestion across arterial routes adjacent it such as Bhagat Singh Marg, Baba Kharak Singh Marg and Ashoka Road.
Meanwhile, massive congestion – owning mainly to pedestrian traffic – was reported from popular weekend haunts such as Connaught Place, Khan Market and Bengali Market even as grossly outnumbered traffic police personnel struggled to streamline hordes of visitors crossing carriageways on the Bhairon Marg and Mathura Road near Pragati Maidan. Devotees visiting the adjacent Bhairon Temple also added to the congestion.
“There was congestion for a variety of reasons and extra personnel were deployed to ensure proper circulation,” admitted Muktesh Chander, Special Commissioner of Police (traffic) who, according to sources, made several personal trips to areas reporting most congestion to put contingency arrangements in place.
“Right turns were either suspended on most arterial stretches in the interest of pedestrian movement or had to be controlled manually to ensure that precedence could be given to them while crossing main roads and to ensure their safety from oncoming vehicular traffic,” Mr. Chander added.
According to traffic police sources, Sunday’s torrent of visitors to Central Delhi had given them much food for thought on effective circulation plans for similar events in future. “Next time onwards, we can devise better circulation plans with pedestrian movement being given more priority than we did this time,” said a traffic police officer.
